In a significant victory for accountability, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has secured a preservation order from the Special Tribunal to claw back R4.73 million in profits from Tepa Trading and Projects. This company unduly benefited from a flawed COVID-19 procurement contract with the Mpumalanga Department of Health.
The order, a crucial step in the asset forfeiture process, targets the profits from a R4.73 million contract awarded for the supply of surgical masks at the height of the pandemic in 2020. The SIU investigation, initiated under the terms of Proclamation R.23 of 2020, which authorized a sweeping probe into COVID-19-related expenditures, uncovered a web of irregularities that rendered the contract unlawful.
A Case of “Flouting Every Principle”
According to the SIU’s court papers, the award to Tepa Trading was not just irregular but a fundamental subversion of fair and constitutional procurement processes. The investigation revealed that the Mpumalanga Department of Health:
- Completely Bypassed Competitive Bidding: The contract was awarded without any competitive bidding process, violating the Constitution and the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).
- Ignored Critical Supply Chain Management (SCM) Policies: There was no adherence to the requisite checks and balances designed to ensure fairness, cost-effectiveness, and transparency.
- Engaged in Unjustifiable Sole-Sourcing: The department failed to provide any legal or factual justification for why Tepa Trading was the only possible supplier for the essential equipment.
“This was not a minor administrative oversight,” stated an SIU spokesperson. “This was a case of flouting every principle of public procurement. The system was deliberately sidestepped to funnel public funds to a specific beneficiary.”
The Road to Recovery and Broader Implications
The preservation order freezing the company’s assets is the first major step. The SIU will now proceed with a formal review application in the Special Tribunal to have the original contract declared invalid and unlawful. Following that, the unit will seek a final order for the funds to be paid directly into the National Revenue Fund.
This case is a flagship example of the SIU’s broader strategy to tackle the rampant looting that characterized South Africa’s COVID-19 emergency procurement. The unit has identified billions of Rands in suspicious contracts across various provincial departments.
“The message is unequivocal: if you illicitly profited from a public emergency, we will use every legal tool at our disposal to find you, litigate against you, and reclaim every cent,” the SIU spokesperson emphasized. “This R4.73 million is not just a number; it represents hospital resources, healthcare worker safety, and public trust that was stolen. We are determined to recover it.”
The success against Tepa Trading serves as a stark warning to other companies that secured similar dubious contracts and signals to the public that the long and arduous process of untangling the web of pandemic corruption is yielding tangible results.
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