Sunday Independent Sunday, October 18, 2020

IRREGULARITIES GRACEFUL SAPS in R1.6bn PPE mess Draft audit report says force irregularly awarded contracts, paid inflated prices PIET MAHASHA RAMPEDI IAN LANDSBERG African News Agency (ANA) THE SAPS irregularly awarded personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts worth R1.6 billion by concluding them on “verbal authorisation” and without the requisite number of quotations. It also paid inflated prices, awarded contracts worth R86 million to companies which were not tax compliant and ordered sterile surgical gloves “only meant for the Department of Health”. This is according to a draft audit report compiled by the SAPS’ supply chain management division last month and seen by the Sunday Independent. It shows that the police force “wrongfully awarded” a R95m contract to Emergency Response Equipment and “unfairly disqualified” the lowest bidder, Tekenberg, which…

COURT Court liquidates Mkhize’s company SIBONISO MNGADI sibosiso.mngadi@inl.co.za DURBAN celebrity businesswoman, Shauwn Mkhize’s long battle with the taxman ended in the liquidation of her company, Zikhulise Cleaning Maintenance and Transport (ZCMT). In a precedent-setting judgment, the Gauteng High Court ordered that the company be liquidated and placed under final winding-up for failing to settle tax matters with the SA Revenue Service (Sars). While judgment was handed on Thursday, the matter dates back to 2016, when Sars launched an urgent application for the winding up of ZCMT. In its founding affidavit, Sars sets out that as at February 1, 2016, ZCMT was indebted to Sars in an amount in excess of R122 million of which about R50m was disputed by the company. Subsequently, Mkhize brought an application to place her company…

POLICING Little sanctions in wrongful arrest cases EDWIN NAIDU AN ESTIMATED R1.5 billion has been paid out by the South African Police Services in civil claims for wrongful arrests over the past five years, according to Gareth Newham, the head, justice and violence prevention programme at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria. “This money would have been better used holding the police accountable for their misdeeds, but the ability to prevent police misconduct has deteriorated over the past five to six years with on average 4500 disciplinary cases reported on a yearly basis,” he said. Last year, R535 million was paid out by SAPS in wrongful arrests claims, but on average, only 120 police officers were found guilty, and in most cases, fined for misconduct. “If they face sanction,…

The Brief BANKSY CLAIMS HULA-HOOPING GIRL STREET ART The elusive British street artist Banksy confirmed on Saturday that a new artwork that appeared on a wall in Nottingham, central England, depicting a young girl using a bicycle tyre as a hula-hoop is his work. The work appeared on Tuesday on the red brick wall of a beauty salon, next to a bicycle that was locked to a metal signpost and missing its back wheel. Banksy is known for witty artworks that often make powerful references to world affairs. His works this year have alluded to the coronavirus crisis and Black Lives Matter movement. Reuters…

STAND-OFF ‘Kill the Boer’ song angers FF+ SAMKELO MTSHALI and MANYANE MANYANE THE stand-off between the EFF, Afri-Forum and farmers in Senekal has culminated in the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) hauling the EFF before the SA Human Rights Commission after supporters sang Kill the Boer during the protest. The groups had gathered for the court appearances of Sekola Matlaletsa, 44, and Sekwetje Mahlamba, 32, on charges of murdering Paul Roux farm manager Brendin Horner, 21, on October 1. The FF+ condemned the EFF for allowing its supporters to sing the song as the red berets descended on the Free State town to “protect” the court after a group of farmers last week stormed it, damaging property and burning a police van. The trial is expected to resume on Tuesday. A…

OBITUARY Ditshego succumbs to virus Knowledgeable free-thinker, opinion-maker and PAC stalwart DON MAKATILE don.makatile@inl.co.za MAVERICK opinion-maker Sam Ditshego has died. He was 64. An ambulance was called to his home in Kagiso, Mogale City, on the West Rand, yesterday morning where paramedics declared him dead. A free-thinker whose seminal writing was circulated widely on social media, newspapers and radio, Ditshego always shared his wealth of knowledge. He’d write a well-argued analysis piece in the print media, share something equally cerebral on Facebook and give a radio interview without breaking sweat. His prose in English was as impressive as his diction of his native Setswana. His knowledge on a variety of subjects was encyclopaedic. On our letters page we publish, posthumously, Ditshego’s last piece that he penned for us on Thursday.…