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The last round of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) purchasing done by the Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDoE) made little to no impact for local suppliers, had no lasting economic benefit and did not create any additional jobs in the province.

This is substantiated by the publication of the supplier database, which the Democratic Alliance (DA) has been calling for, for months.

The lists made it clear why the ECDoE have been reluctant to make the data available, as it has confirmed what the DA has been saying from the onset. The R578 million PPE purchased, was procured from tenderpreneurs at highly inflated prices.

These funds have been diverted from spending on infrastructure, which means that schools are not being built, to enrich politically connected cadres!

Why else would you find printing companies, construction companies, consultants and estate agents supplying PPE?

The DA has reliably learnt that these middlemen then sourced cheap inferior products from outside the province.

This spending spree has done nothing for our province. It has not created any employment opportunities; it has not supported local small businesses in the PPE sector, including local PPE manufacturers; and it has not met the PPE needs of the schools.

It is no wonder why many of the PPE supplied failed quality control checks, which were left to the schools to conduct, because the department clearly didn’t care about getting quality products at value for money.

How can the department justify paying R2,527 for a thermometer and R1625 for 25 litres of hand sanitiser, when you can buy these items at a fraction of that cost at retail outlets?

This is why the ANC empowerment model has failed and will continue to fail. It has always been about a connected elite who secure contracts with the state at inflated prices for their own self-enrichment.

I will be writing to the Education MEC, Fundile Gade, to request that the Department review their procurement procedures ahead of the second tranche of procurement, which is currently being considered.

I have also submitted questions in the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature to further probe how the department went about its procurement. The department has previously confirmed that it released expressions of interest and we have asked how these were advertised and what the selection process entailed. The DA has also received information that it was the department that inflated prices and not the suppliers.

I have also asked how much the second tranche of procurement will cost and from where this money will be sourced, as the department has already drained its infrastructure budget.

The only thing that the ECDoE has managed to do is squander money that would have built a better future for our learners to make COVID-tenderpreneurs millionaires. We need to do better.

Issued by The DA