Fired official to challenge dismissal

A LEGAL tussle between the KZN MEC for Public Works and Infrastructure Martin Meyer and Musa Zondi, the recently ousted director of the supply chain management is set to take place over Zondi’s dismissal.

Zondi was fired from his position on accusations regarding his oversight functions and claims that his actions resulted in a R1.1 billion loss for the department.

Meyer in a statement asserted that Zondi had been dismissed for gross misconduct.

Zondi, through his legal representatives at Zuma & Partners Incorporated, has demanded a retraction of what he describes as a “defamatory statement.”

Zondi's lawyers in a letter contend that the claims made by the department were factually inaccurate and have significantly harmed their client’s personal and professional reputation, adding that Zondi had neither been charged nor found guilty of any misconduct as alleged.

Zondi maintained that he played no part in facilitating the awarding of the contracts valued at R1.1 billion, and that all procurement decisions ultimately lie with the accounting officer of the department.

His dismissal comes as a fallout from accusations stating that he neglected due diligence and failed to disclose potential conflicts of interest involving companies that received government contracts.

The department's statement indicated that Zondi’s failure to uphold the necessary oversight protocols led to the questionable awarding of contracts to a single consulting firm.

“It’s a fact that Mr Zondi was employed in August 2022 as a Director and he holds several qualifications from reputable universities including a post graduate degree. He has many years of work experience within the public sector. His appointment has nothing to do with his political affiliation with ANC or any association which is his freedom of association.

His delegated authority of signing doesn’t exceed R3million and government process doesn’t allow a single person to evaluate and adjudicate a tender. There is no way that a single person can approve contracts up to a R1,1 billion, this is just a mere propaganda stunt.

There are committees of professionals with different sets of skills that do checks and balances in ensuring the fairness of the process. The publication of this matter is creating an impression that the department had no system nor processes in place,” said Zondi’s lawyers in a statement.

However, Meyer has handed this matter over to the Hawks for a criminal investigation.

He said that when he took office last year he started looking closely at the supply chain management processes and contracts that were issued.

“Some things were flagged to us. So when we saw that one company got 29 contracts at the cost of R1.1 billion for consultations to our department, that was a big red flag for us. We asked for further investigations which led us to investigate the SCM manager and others and that led us to reach the point that we've reached now.

“I think it's very important to also note that gone are the days where we suspend officials and they sit at home on full pay for a year or two years. We've managed to do this whole thing in 60 days and I'm very proud of that fact,” said Meyer.

He said there was a suspicion there was a corrupt relationship between officials and contractors, which was a criminal offence, hence the matter was handed over to the Hawks.

“We've handed all our materials over to them. So we've now asked the Hawks to look if there's any other criminal matter that needs to be looked at here because we think it's very important for consequence management. If officials from now on in this unity government are found to have done something criminal, they will exchange their suits for orange overalls and go to Westville prison. If there's a possibility there was a crime, there's a possibility that we could recoup some of these funds”, he said.

Meyer said because of the criminal and internal investigations looking at all 29 contracts, they took a decision as a department, not to release the name of the company until the processes were completed.

“But once that's done, and it won’t impact on our investigations, we believe in transparency in this department and we will most definitely take the people of KwaZulu- Natal in our confidence”.

He said there had been irregularities flagged with the tender processes, tender documents, the prices they've asked and the prices other companies tendered.

“So the whole thing is a bit tainted and that's why we're looking at it. So it's not purely about the number although it is important. The regulations also state that we can't give monopoly to one company. So that is also part of it, that one company had a monopoly on consultation services to the department and that's something we seriously have to look at. As a department we have become way too dependent on consultants, and we're also looking to strengthen our own internal capacity so that we become less dependent on consultants and do a lot more of the work in-house,” said Meyer.

Zondi's attorneys had given the department 12pm tomorrow as a deadline to revert to them or they will prepare summons. The department responded. On Tuesday, Meyer will hold a media briefing, with suspension of officials as one of the agenda of his briefing.

SUNDAY TRIBUNE