Ntuthuko breaks law in E400m tender

Less than a month since creating his Facebook account, the minister posted information relating to the procurement procedure on his wall last Friday.

According to the Procurement Act, Dlamini breached Section 43 Subsection (c), which explicitly states that all information directly linked to the procurement processes is expected to be kept confidential.

Minister Dlamini breached the Act through seeking public views on how best government could purchase the required 940 vehicles, while the procurement process is ongoing. The minister wanted the public to advise him on which option to use between the single sourcing and the open tender system.

Human Rights lawyer, Mandla Mkhwanazi, said publicising certain elements of the procurement or tendering process on Face-book or anywhere prior to its completion is wrong.

"Such acts expose the whole process to irregularities. This is because certain people interested in the tender could take advantage of the Facebook deliberations to win it. Such an act exposes the tendering process to some kind of risks.

"The whole process, if challenged (in the court of law), could be set aside since it now has same irregularities," said Mkhwanazi.

The minister, on Monday, asked that his Facebook discussions on the matter not be published. He said the social network discussions were in violation of the confidentiality ethic which must be adhered to in government procurement processes. He, however, disclosed that he made the comments hoping his Facebook deliberations would be treated as a personal issue.

"I simply wanted views to justify the decision I had already made on this matter. It is on this premise that I’m asking you not to publish my Facebook deliberations on this as they compromise the confidentiality ethic. I, however, believe and insist that they were personal," said the minister.

Percy Simelane, Government Press Secretary, said; "Tendering is a ministerial operation and the Tender Board is autonomous."

The minister updated his Facebook post through a friend, Mbongeni Absa Magagula, on Friday at around 11am.

In the post the minister asked the public what it could do given the responsibility to buy 940 vehicles for government. The minister asked the public to, when giving their advice, be mindful of the general mechanical service of the cars.

He added that the public’s feedback must consider that government should benefit in terms of having one kind of fleet.

"Question or survey is; If you were Minister of Public Works and Transport requested to buy 940 vehicles, what will you do? One should bear in mind that the condition is to insure that the cars should be serviceable and government should benefit in terms of having one kind of fleet and the mechanical service should be considered. What will you do? Single sourcing or open tender system? Advise honestly. Help him," read the post.

At around 12:15pm on Friday, the minister’s post had generated 24 comments. Some of those who commented did not take kindly to the minister’s idea of utilising social media to get views on such a national issue.

The minister, in the same post, assured those who doubted his strategy that he was aware of what he was doing. "Magagula, please respond to those who are abusive of the survey. I know what to do but was just asking for a justification of what i have decided to do," reads the minister’s response.

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