MTN has lost a Special Tribunal exception application in relation to the irregular supply of Covid-19 screening mobile devices for the Limpopo Department of Health.
The Special Tribunal handed down the decision last week, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) said.
“This ruling affirms the SIU’s position regarding the irregular procurement of 10,000 cellphone devices by the Limpopo Department of Health during the Covid-19 pandemic,” SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said.
The SIU launched an investigation into the Limpopo Department of Health and found that MTN made an unsolicited proposal to supply the department with 10,000 cellphone devices intended for Covid mass screenings.
“This proposal cost the department R10 million. This falls outside the prescripts Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). The Department of Health accepted the proposal and subsequent delivery of the devices, 9,588 cellphones were not distributed to the intended users,” Kganyago added.
The SIU found that the former head of the department, Dr Thokozani Florence Mhlongo, who was the accounting officer, allegedly exposed the department to wasteful expenditure when she authorised the procurement and payment of the cellphones.
The Limpopo department only distributed 388 of the 10,000 cellphones between September 2020 and March 2021, and the cellphones were distributed without the required screening application.
The SIU has now instituted a civil action in the Special Tribunal in order to review and recover financial losses suffered by the department.
The unit has interdicted the pension payout of Dr Mhlongo after she resigned from her position in the face of disciplinary action.
IOL has approached MTN for further comment.
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