Sizwe Africa IT (Sizwe) has denied being involved in the conflict of interest in a more than R500 million contract for the procurement of 55 000 Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0-inch LTE tablets for schools in the Eastern Cape.
This comes after media reports from weekend newspapers that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) were investigating Dr Naledi Mbude-Mehana, a senior national education department official, and her husband Reverend Vukile Mehana, the former chairman of IT group Sizwe Africa, for their involvement in payments allegedly for an illegal contract.
According to reports, the contract’s estimated price increased from R160 million to R537.4m, and the State Information Technology Agency (Sita) found it unlawful and invalid as it had not been taken through the appropriate channels.
Sizwe yesterday said the media reports were clear that the Hawks investigation concerns potential conflicts of interest involving Mehana and Mbude-Mehana prior to their marriage, among other matters.
However, Sizwe categorically denied any connection between these alleged irregularities and a contract to supply tablets to the Eastern Cape Department of Education in 2020.
“The media reports have incorrectly conflated completely unrelated contracts into a single story, causing harm to our company's name,” Sizwe said.
“For clarity, the contracts referred to are the rental agreements, dating back to around 2014. The settlement agreement referred to in the media reports are for the old contracts that took place before Sizwe was acquired by Ayo in 2018. Sizwe was chaired by Rev Mehana, before the Ayo acquisition. After Ayo acquired 55% of the company in 2018, Sizwe had and conducted management change.
“The settlement reported in the media relates to the last 2 rental agreements of that 2014 contract, has nothing to do with the 2020 agreement currently in court.”
Sizwe said it was the one that initiated the investigation into irregular expenditure discovered during its 2022/2023 financial year.
“We launched the formal internal investigation to ensure accountability after discovering various irregularities. It is Sizwe that reported the matter to the law enforcement agencies under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. As a company, we welcome the current Hawks investigation and the developments on the matter,” it said.
“Whilst Reverend Mehana holds a 5% shareholding in Sizwe Africa IT, he has had no management role or involvement in the operations of the company. Mr Mehana resigned from the board of Sizwe when the company reported the matter to the authorities.”
Sizwe thus reiterated that the ongoing Hawks investigation did not involve settlement agreements relating to 2020 contract, but old contracts prior to the company being acquired by Ayo, adding that this was not linked to the company’s current operations or management structure.
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