Digital Vibes saga: SIU to hand over report to Ramaphosa

It’s D-day for the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) as it is expected to hand over its report into the R150 million Digital Vibes contract, to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday, June 30, 2021.

The SIU has been hard at work, not only probing the questionable contract, but also gunning for those believed to be implicated. It was recently granted an order to seize more than R22 million linked to entities and individuals that received payments from Digital Vibes.

It was learnt that the communications company was run by two associates of Health Minister Dr Dweli Mkhize. It is alleged that Digital Vibes wildly inflated the costs of setting up Mkhize’s briefings during the COVID-19 pandemic, with funds from the DoH funneled into a host of obscure third-party bank accounts.

It was recently reported that Mkhize pressured department officials to award the lucrative tender to Digital Vibes, which directly implicates the minister in wrongdoing.

Will Zweli Mkhize stay or go?

President Cyril Ramaphosa had long insisted that he is dealing with the matter – the report into the Digital Vibes scandal would essentially inform how he responds. For now, Dr Zweli Mkhize has been placed on special leave and was replaced by Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, who functions in an acting capacity.

A Daily Maverick investigation revealed that in May 2020, Digital Vibes forked out R160 000 for a 2003 Toyota Land Cruiser at a Pietermaritzburg car dealership. The car is owned by Mkhize’s son, Dedani. It has also been revealed that the company transferred R300 000  to a company belonging to Mkhize jr. That’s not all, Digital Vibes also paid about R7 000 for maintenance work down on a plush Bryanston townhouse, owned by the Mkhize family.