- The Special Tribunal has set aside the Eastern Cape scooter ambulance contract.
- There was no public money paid to the company awarded the tender.
- The Special Investigating Unit said it acted quickly before any money was paid to Fabkomp (Pty) Ltd.
The controversial R10.1 million scooter ambulance tender awarded by the Eastern Cape Health Department to Fabkomp (Pty) Ltd has been declared invalid and unlawful by the Special Tribunal.
The tribunal reviewed the tender and set it aside after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) approached it.
The judgment was made on Friday 28 May.
This is after an investigation by the SIU revealed that the tender was awarded irregularly.
No money was paid to Fabkomp.
The investigation into the process that was followed to award the tender, prevented payment from being made.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said if it were not for their investigation, the Eastern Cape Health Department would have gone ahead and paid the money.
Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize became the first ‘patient’ to be carried in new mobile health motorcycle designed to ferry patients in rural areas. EC Health department procured 100 of these which can move in sand and gravel roads. @TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/v4hvUrdIGJ
— Malibongwe Dayimani (@MaliDayimani) June 12, 2020
"The order has come up. That contract has been set aside, meaning that the contract is null and void. There is no more a contract between the department of health and that company Fabkomp. We acted quickly before there was even any payment; therefore the department never paid anything to this company. We won't be trying [to] recover any money," said Kganyago.
READ | Scooter tender: Investigation launched into R10m contract for Eastern Cape initiative
"Had we left it at that and not taken the matter to court for the contract to be set aside, there would still be a contract between the department and that company and at some point that company would have come to claim money," added Kganyago.
The judgment, delivered by Judge Lebogang Modiba read: "The decision by the Eastern Cape department of health to award the tender to Fabkomp (Pty) Ltd for the supply of scooters with side carts for an amount of R10 148 750 is reviewed and set aside.
"There is no order as to costs."
On 18 February, Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane fired MEC of Health Sindiswa Gomba after the SIU implicated her in wrongdoing for awarding the contract alongside former head of the Health Department Dr Thobile Mbengashe.
Mbengashe has since been removed as the department's head and sent sideways to be an advisor to Mabuyane.
The probe came after Mabuyane wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa asking for the SIU to investigate allegations of wrongdoing in the Eastern Cape relating to procurement of PPEs.
Mabuyane said in a final report, submitted by the SIU on 12 February, the unit submitted serious findings of misconduct against Gomba and Mbengashe.
Gomba also faces a string of allegations concerning R10 million siphoned from the Buffalo City Metro Municipality ahead of former President Nelson Mandela's funeral in 2013.
She previously told News24 in February: "There was no money of the department lost due to the motorbike deal. Now tell me, why am I being crucified?"
The Eastern Cape Health Department welcomed the judgment.
Department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said: "We didn't opposed the application from the outset - so we accept the decision."
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