Brown rubbishes 80 Million Covid19 tender allegations

Local/14 May 2020, 17:35pm / Molefi Sompane

Free State Finance MEC Gadija Brown: image supplied

Bloemfontein: The Free State Treasury has denied the allegations of maladministration and tender irregularities that had been making rounds on social media.

According to the spokesman for Free State MEC of Finance Andrew Visagie it was taken by Free State Executive Council not to use national procurement standards but opted for provincial one.

“The  Free State Provincial Government took a conscious decision not to procure COVID-19 related items through the National Transversal Contracts or National Central Procurement (Imperial process) because of the deliberate decision to support (to a practical extend) Free State local business  and hence the decision was taken  that Provincial Treasury must centrally procure COVID-19 related PPE and cloth mask,” Visagie said.

He added that government took decision to disinfect buildings and it took note that regulations of the lock down which put many suppliers at halt. Visagie denied that his department was involved with schools disinfection tender.

“It must be noted that the responsibility to sanitize Provincial Government Buildings and Schools is not entrusted with the Free State Treasury and any reports that suggest that are not correct and misleading,” he said.

Since allegations made suggested that the appointed company was not accredited to do the work and had changed it’s services recently on the Central Database he refuted the illegal information sharing by internal staff.

“As a Province, we discourage any sharing of information that is incorrect and we recommend that proper processes must be followed to request the correct information from government,” he added.

The INSIDER can confirm that to date, about 74 companies were utilised by the Free State Provincial Government since the Covid 19 ordeal and only 26 companies (which translate to 34 %) are companies that are outside the Free State.

He added that: “It is critical to highlight that to a very large extend the 34 % was as a result of the initial Instruction Notes issued by National Treasury, that were later revoked, that did not give an option for our departments that participated prior to COVID-19 in National Treasury COVID-19  related Transversal Contracts to procure outside of the contract.”

“We remain committed and will continue to support local business and provide opportunities in this regard.”

It is not the first time allegations of corruption and maladministration of public funds in government made rounds in Free State however The INSIDER began investigation to find the source of the untrue allegations.

Meanwhile the publication can confirm that the root of the allegations are from a young tenderpreneur who used to get deals with the provincial government.

Sources claim that Edgar Legoale alerts who is from Parys in the North of Free State is spreading lies from bitter heart after government chose not to do business with him.

He is currently organizing a March dubbed youth against free State government.

He claims government don’t do business with youth owned businesses.

A close ally of Legoale admitted to The INSIDER that they were getting a good support of other leaders in the ANC.

“We are having support of other leaders who don’t like how things are done,” he said.

Another one said: “Edgar uses people for his own agenda and he knows he will reap fruit at our expense.”

By the publishing time of the story The INSIDER has struggle to find Legoale for a response.

One young man Thabiso Obuseng who grew up with him said the young fearful firebrand is used to being dishonest.

In one of the investigations Legoale is still under fire for failing to pay the soccer team that won the tournament he organized in December.

It is believed he personally benefited from the tourney while he failed to fulfill his obligations.

The INSIDER can confirm that Legoale has placed the number of the club manager on reject list.

Not long ago Legoale accused former Premier of the Free State now ANC Boss Ace Magashule of corruption and allegations of threatening to kill him. He later posted series of allegations of adulterous behavior between Magashule and MEC of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation Dimakatso Mahasa.

This comes after the department of Economic development (Destea) failed to support him while under Mahasa turner.