Former health minister appears in another SIU investigation involving R114 million deal

Former health minister Zweli Mkhize ‘s name has surfaced again in a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) investigation which is probing how a KwaZulu-Natal provincial treasury tender increased from R3.5 million to R114 million.

News24 revealed that and SIU investigation, completed in February last year, found that a contract for the provision of forensic risk services called Operation Unembeza which was awarded to Universal Security Services (USS) in September 2007 by the provincial treasury, was irregular. Dr Zweli Mkhize was the MEC for finance when the contract was awarded.

An affidavit by an SIU investigator stated that Sipho Shabalala, the KZN treasury’s former head, wrote a letter to Mkhize motivating for Operation Unembeza to be implemented to all provincial government departments. There is no clarity whether Mkhize responded to the motivational letter.

Project Unembeza was rolled out to all provincial government departments shortly after the motivation letter was sent to Mkhize, with the costs of the project moving from R3.5 million to R114 million.

“The appointment of USS was further extended when a letter was written to the MEC Dr ZL Mkhize, Minister of finance and economic development, on 8 February 2008by Mr Shabalala. This letter motivated Project Unembeza to be rolled out to all provincial departments and was allocated other budgets for the next few years,” the investigator’s affidavit said.

The reported further alleged that the SIU found that the contract was awarded irregularly and was flawed.

Source: News24, The Citizen, image from Twitter

Doctor Mahlaule

Doctor Mahlaule previously worked as a Freelance Journalist at Find-it SA where he was responsible for writing news articles and sharing them on social media platforms. Doctor Mahlaule holds a Diploma in Journalism, BA in Communication Science and a BA Honours in Media Studies. Doctor began his journey as a knowledge Management and Communications Intern at Zenex Foundation. He was responsible for support in event management, social media, website maintenance, writing and brand management. On weekends Doctor attends prison ministry and shares the scriptures with inmates at Krugersdorp prison and plays soccer in the afternoon on some weekends. He has a passion for reading and writing and enjoys going out with friends and socialising in his spare time. He has a one-year-old son and is planning on getting married soon. When asked about what keeps him going, he said: “My family keeps me going. I’m the man I am because I come from a loving home. I have a very supportive family who always encourages me to keep pushing hard.”

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