Western Cape government release PPE procurement report

The Western Cape Provincial Government has released a comprehensive outline of its procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the interests of transparency as inquests run far and wide around the country regarding COVID-19 corruption. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced during his latest address of the nation that any and all acts of corruption that have been committed during the pandemic are going to be interrogated with a fine-tooth comb, but the Western Cape’s government don’t think that they have anything to answer for. 

Western Cape report ‘transparent and eliminates duplication’ 

The report outlines how each department in the provincial government has gone about ensuring that it can function efficiently according to the strict guidelines set out by national government with regards to dealing safely with the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Western Cape’s Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, David Maynier, said that the procurement of critical PPE in the province has been down in a way that falls in line with the province’s record of clean governance. 

“We consider the Procurement Disclosure Report an excellent example of transparency, and another innovative step towards maintaining clean government in the Western Cape,” he said.  

“We have invested significant amounts of money on PPE in the fight against COVID-19 in the Western Cape, and so I am pleased that this initiative by Provincial Treasury as an important measure designed to mitigate the risks in supply chain management and ensure this money is spent correctly.”

Provincial Treasury’s head of department, David Savage, added that the manner in which the PPE has been procured should serve as an example to other provinces.  

“The public Procurement Disclosure Report enhances transparency in our supply chains by providing procurement information that is easy to access and meaningful to all interested parties and oversight bodies,” he said. 

“Because we use different supply chain management systems with varying lead and lag times, we hope that this consolidated report will eliminate duplication and discrepancies in reporting.” 

Here’s how the province has procured PPE: 

Each department of provincial government has spent the following: 

• Department of the Premier – R597 401;
• Provincial Treasury – R116 852;
• Department of Community Safety – R353 790;
• Department of Education – R112 103 171;
• Department of Health – Total R250 242 437 68;
• Department of Social Development – R844 403;
• Department of Human Settlements – R19 780;
• Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning – R142 539;
• Department of Transport and Public Works – R68 955 744;
• Department of Agriculture – R1 796 969;
• Department of Economic Development and Tourism – R115 402;
• Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport – R1 577 054;
• Department of Local Government – R100 705

It’s interesting to note that the department that has spent the most money on PPE (aside from the department of health, where the equipment is clearly most desperately needed) is the department of Education. 

The Democratic Alliance in the Western Cape, along with the Provincial Education body (WCED) have been vehemently opposed to the reclining of schools following a spike in COVID-19 cases. 

Expenditure in the department has exceeded R110 million, with the WCED insisting that its schools are prepared to safely welcome back students to the classroom.