Under pressure to open the Groot Kloof Education Centre, allegedly at the behest of the political bosses at the time, almost R600 000 was shelled out on sprucing up the Hillside facility.
Using the Milongani Eco-Consulting contract – meant for environmental services – office and electronic equipment as well as cutlery, all to the tune of R591 801, was purchased over three months.
But a few items did not make it to the centre, including a new iPad Air, three data sim cards and a 3G keyboard.
These are among the findings contained in the PricewaterhouseCoopers forensic report, which probed the payments to Milongani.
This all transpired in the months leading up to the official opening of the education centre in September 2015.
The R21-million centre serves as a base in the northern areas for education on preserving the environment.
According to the report, a municipal administrator told investigators that environmental services director Joram Mkosana took the iPad, keyboard and a data sim card for himself, and the other data cards were used by staff in the office.
Mkosana denied this to the PwC investigators. The allegations in the report put the blame squarely on Mkosana for purchasing these items through the Milongani contract, even though it fell outside the scope of what Milongani was hired to do.
The report stated that Mkosana claimed he was under political pressure from the member of the mayoral committee for public health at the time – who was Joy Seale – to complete the centre.He allegedly admitted they had decided to use the Milongani contract to bypass the supply chain management procedures to expedite the process. Although Mkosana was not the project manager for the completion of the centre, he allegedly instructed staff to obtain quotes and buy all necessary items to ensure the centre’s opening went ahead.
Attempts to reach Mkosana for comment were unsuccessful. He was not at the home address listed in the PwC report.
On allegations that Mkosana received political pressure from the then MMC for public health to open Groot Kloof, Seale said the project was budgeted for and completed and there was no reason why it had remained shut. Seale said she was doing her duty as the MMC at the time.
“The building was complete and had it remained shut, it would have been vandalised,” she said.
“I don’t know why I’m being dragged into a political pressure situation because everything else is an administrative issue,” Seale said.
Meanwhile, senior environmental education officer Pumla Koltana told PwC investigators the iPad, keyboard and data sim cards were not delivered to the centre.
Speaking to The Herald yesterday, Koltana said she never saw those items at the centre. “I don’t recall those items. We’ve got computers here and there aren’t any iPads,” Koltana said.
In addition to the missing items, the three invoices issued by Milongani to the municipality had three different signatures, all allegedly that of Milongani owner Mpho Nangammbi, and three different invoice letterheads.Officials failed to notice the glaring differences when processing the payments.
Among items Milongani purchased without any supporting documents pertaining to the centre were:
Various electronic equipment – R53 078.40, R76 191.90 and R75 395.04;
Office furniture – R36 246.77, R56 915.64 and R44 327.20;
Office furniture and appliances R105 671.64;
Appliances and cutlery R8 843;
Various items and services R39 121.38 and R34 487.28;
Office furniture, appliances and cutlery R105
Various types of banners R54 770.16;
Various items R82 080 and R39 740;
Estimated launch costs R27 968.48.