Macpherson on irregular oxygen plant tender after R13m spend: 'We have effectively lost'

JOHANNESBURG -The Department of Public Works said by the time it stopped the irregular oxygen plant tender, the government had already spent about R13 million.

In 2022,  the state-owned entity, Independent Development Trust (IDT), awarded a tender worth R423 million to a company called Bulkeng.

A forensic report has now found the company to be non-compliant and did not have accreditation from the SA Health Regulatory Authority, despite being tasked with supplying medical equipment. 

The total cost of the oxygen plant tender was initially R213 million.

However, the forensic reports say that when the IDT sent a request for proposals, the project had ballooned to R590 million without a justifiable reason. 

Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson said the money had already been spent on payment service providers to facilitate the project.

“We effectively have lost. I am not saying it’s okay – we want to get that money back but we managed to limit to R13,5 million when it could have been R600 million or more that would have gone to just one company, and what’s worse it would have been donor funding - which we would have been cut off from eternity on ever getting that kind of funding from international funders.”

The project is funded by the Global Fund, a Geneva-based organisation that raises money for low to middle-income countries.