10 April 2020

The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Moses Mabhida Province (KwaZulu-Natal) is concerned about the procurement of 48,000 blankets by the KwaZulu-Natal Social Development. According to the department, this was their contribution to the intervention in the fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). What perplexes us is the order of priorities that the department chose especially during the lockdown. We also want to remind the public that it was last year, 2019, when the department, through forensic investigation, was found to have colluded with service providers to defraud the public purse. There has also been a barrage of complaints from the public, NGOs and other social partners about processes of funding and procurement within the department. We can only suspect that this pattern has not ended.

The department chose to buy from small, medium and macro enterprises, which it purports is a directive it got from the National Treasury. It is alleged that the procurement decision was initially for 1,000 blankets for each cluster but was increased to 12,000. This happened on the eve of the lockdown on 24 March. We believe that the norm during the state of disaster and the state of emergency, the state is mandated to buy from the manufacturers directly in order to ensure that the services are brought fast at the lowest possible prices as there is no need to tender and compare the three quotes. However, this was not an option that was advanced.

The mandate of the Department of Social Development acts as a buffer and a barrier for people who live in poverty. The province of KwaZulu-Natal is mostly rural, with many people being poor and unemployed. These people need mostly food and healthcare. There are so many shelters which ordinarily house the homeless and a number of NGOs which are funded by the state and other sources to provide such. The assessment of how many of these organisations have the capacity to carry this task has not been done. The plight for the destitute and the homeless has long been there and the department has opted to work mainly through NGOs and local government. We believe that their plight need multi-fold sustainable socio-economic interventions than mere procurement of blankets.

The procurement of these blankets shows the sheer disregard of the needs of society, and we believe that there is more to this story than meets the eye. The fight against COVID-19 needs water, soap, social distancing and food to boost the immune system of the people. Today we are faced with the shortage of personal protection equipment of the medical staff, the shortage of food for the indigent, the shortage of transport for those who are in need to access health services and many other pressing issues. We therefore believe that the department must clearly explain why it purchased these blankets while what has been put forward is a mere smokescreen. We are therefore calling on the Provincial Government to institute an investigation on the procurement of these blankets.

Issued by the SACP Moses Mabhida Province

Contact:

Sifiso Gwala
Provincial Spokesperson
SACP Moses Mabhida (KZN) Province
+2764 907 0498
sifisogwala@gmail.com