Madonsela lays bare Prasa irregularities

In her damning report titled Derailed, released in Pretoria yesterday, Madonsela found among other items that Prasa had improperly:

• Extended the scope of a tender awarded to Siyangena Technologies to the tune of R1.95-billion;
• Extended the scope and value of a tender awarded to Siemens for a dark fibre and integrated communication system beyond what was advertised and approved, at a total cost of R256-million;
• Appointed and extended the contract of Vimtsire Security Services to the tune of R26.5-million;
• Made an advance payment of R600 000 to Enlightened Security before signing the actual contract and issuing a notice to proceed;
• Appointed media company KG Media on a three-year contract to its Hambanathi magazine at the cost of R16.7-million;
• Appointed Ndwandwe Consultancy at a cost of R10.8-million for a value creation and culture change process;
• Awarded a R10.6-million contract to security company Futuris Guarding.

Madonsela has recommended that Prasa board chairman Popo Molefe‚ who was present at the release of the report‚ get the national Treasury to conduct a forensic investigation into all contracts awarded since 2012 above the value of R10.6million. -Sipho Masombuka