The Minister of Basic Education, Ms. Siviwe Gwarube, has written to her colleague at the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Enoch Godongwana, asking him to commission an investigation into the tender that has sparked the controversy, for the milling of school textbooks.
This tender is said to be for the preparation of primary school textbooks, the Foundation Phase. There are allegations that one of the companies in Cape Town that was given this job, was established a few days after the tender was issued to grind books from Grade 1 to Grade 3. Ms. Gwarube said that these allegations are serious and she wants them to be investigated.
“I have written to the Ministry of Finance, requesting that there be an investigation regarding this tender. This tender concerns books that will help students in this country and we do not want anything that will jeopardize the provision of services to students,” he said.
He said that jeopardizing the provision of books to students, would undermine the right in the Constitution of the country that every student must receive an education.
“The Department of Treasury has the power to investigate matters related to tenders issued by departments. That is why we want the Department to investigate before I take action,” continued Ms. Gwarube.
He warned that he will take action against those involved if it is found that something was wrong when the tender was issued.
“If the Treasury’s investigation reveals that something went wrong, I will not hesitate to take action against all those involved.”
Media reports indicate that this R1.6 billion tender aimed to strengthen the education base in this country. This company which is said to have received a share in this tender for the milling of these books, would have benefited with R285 million.
The ActionSA group has warned that corruption in the Department is jeopardizing the provision of quality education. The group said it supports the investigation, and said it is necessary to find the truth of the allegations made about this tender.
“The Ministry must find out how the company that was established after the tender was issued benefited. We want the Treasury Department to speed up the investigation to end the confusion,” said the group.
The DA said it supports the investigation, and expressed concern about the future of students and the corruption committed by department officials.
“Students need to get quality books and this group will fight for this to happen. We want to know why a company that has no known experience in printing or distributing books, was given such a big job?” said the DA.
The DA said that if it is found that there is a baboon’s hand, those involved must be dealt with.