AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER
SOUTH Africa’s Health Minister Dr Zweli is fighting a rear-guard battle to save his political career following damaging revelations implicating him in a R150-million COVID-19 scandal.
New revelations show that a company that received the R150-million tender paid for work done at Mkhize’s Johannesburg home. SA president Cyril Ramaphosa has pleaded for more time before he decides on a course of action in connection with the scandal.
Speaking for the first time since the scandal broke, Ramaphosa revealed that Mkhize had briefed him about the matter.
The president said the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) was in the process of investigating the matter and said he would only take a decision on what to do once he has received a report.
“The SIU is looking into this matter. So I am waiting for the SIU to finish their report. There has been a preliminary report and an investigation at the department level and the minister has briefed me. I am waiting to how the SIU will conclude on the matter,” he said.
Ramaphosa spoke a few days after Mkhize, who has spearheaded SA’s war against COVID-19 said he was not directly implicated in the scandal which revealed that Digital Vibes, a communications company at the centre of an R150-million tender, is owned by Mkhize’s long time associates Tahera Mather and Naadira Mitha.
A few hours after Ramaphosa broke his silence, the Daily Maverick and Scorpio revealed that Digital Vibes paid for maintenance work at a Johannesburg property owned by Mkhize. The Daily Maverick and Scorpio also exposed that Digital Vibes also paid R300 000 to All Out Trading, a company owned by Mkhize’s 33-year-old son, Dedani.
According to The Daily Maverick and Scorpio, Digital Vibes settled invoices from an electrical company which did work at a Bryanston, Johannesburg property owned by the ZLM Trust. The Health Minister’s full name is Zweli Lawrence Mkhize. His surname and cellphone number were listed on the contractor’s invoices, according to the report.
In her response to the Daily Maverick and Scorpio, Dr May Mkhize, wife of the Health Minister, confirmed that the Bryanston property was a family house but expressed shock and surprise that it was linked to the “irregular tender”.
This is what May Mkhize said: “All matters that have related to the upkeep, maintenance etc were always reported to me. Just like any other household we have attended to a few minor maintenance, electrical or plumbing issues over the years, but I have never requested Digital Vibes or any of its representatives to make a single payment towards such upkeep.”
