Former department of health spokesperson Popo Maja, who was in the bid specification and bid evaluation committee when Digital Vibes was granted the controversial multimillion rand tender, allegedly received R15,000 from the company.
Maja appeared in the Pretoria specialised commercial crimes court on Wednesday on two counts of corruption. He was granted R5,000 bail.
“It is alleged that on 1 November 2019, the bid evaluation committee members set to evaluate bidders for functional and technical evaluation after Digital Vibes was recommended to be contracted the bid amount of over R141m, for a period of 12 months,” said National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.
"The same day the committee sat, it is alleged that an amount of R10,000 was paid into Maja’s personal bank account from the Digital Vibes bank account. A month later on 5 December 2019 an amount of R5,000 was paid again to his personal account by Digital Vibes."
Mahanjana said the prosecutor, Phumla Dwane-Alpman, did not oppose bail.
“However, she asked the court to set an amount of R10,000 bail with conditions that Maja should hand in his private and official passport to the investigating officer, that he should inform the investigating officer when travelling outside Gauteng and should not interfere with state witnesses,” Mahanjana said.
"However, his attorney told the court that Maja was already demoted at work in relation to the same matter and can only afford R5,000. He also told the court that Maja has been cooperating with the state since the inception of the matter, therefore he was not a flight risk," Mahanjana said.
She said the case was postponed to July 19 for disclosure of contents of the docket.
Digital Vibes is linked to former health minister Zweli Mkhize and his family.
A damning report by the Special Investigating Unit on the Digital Vibes scandal revealed shocking non-adherence to supply chain management regulations and the flaunting of the Public Finance Management Act in the awarding of the contract and payments made to the company.
The report showed that Digital Vibes was appointed for a National Health Insurance (NHI) media campaign, for a service that was not budgeted for by the department.
mashalek@sowetan.co.za
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Image: Twitter
Former department of health spokesperson Popo Maja, who was in the bid specification and bid evaluation committee when Digital Vibes was granted the controversial multimillion rand tender, allegedly received R15,000 from the company.
Maja appeared in the Pretoria specialised commercial crimes court on Wednesday on two counts of corruption. He was granted R5,000 bail.
“It is alleged that on 1 November 2019, the bid evaluation committee members set to evaluate bidders for functional and technical evaluation after Digital Vibes was recommended to be contracted the bid amount of over R141m, for a period of 12 months,” said National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.
"The same day the committee sat, it is alleged that an amount of R10,000 was paid into Maja’s personal bank account from the Digital Vibes bank account. A month later on 5 December 2019 an amount of R5,000 was paid again to his personal account by Digital Vibes."
Mahanjana said the prosecutor, Phumla Dwane-Alpman, did not oppose bail.
“However, she asked the court to set an amount of R10,000 bail with conditions that Maja should hand in his private and official passport to the investigating officer, that he should inform the investigating officer when travelling outside Gauteng and should not interfere with state witnesses,” Mahanjana said.
"However, his attorney told the court that Maja was already demoted at work in relation to the same matter and can only afford R5,000. He also told the court that Maja has been cooperating with the state since the inception of the matter, therefore he was not a flight risk," Mahanjana said.
She said the case was postponed to July 19 for disclosure of contents of the docket.
Digital Vibes is linked to former health minister Zweli Mkhize and his family.
A damning report by the Special Investigating Unit on the Digital Vibes scandal revealed shocking non-adherence to supply chain management regulations and the flaunting of the Public Finance Management Act in the awarding of the contract and payments made to the company.
The report showed that Digital Vibes was appointed for a National Health Insurance (NHI) media campaign, for a service that was not budgeted for by the department.
mashalek@sowetan.co.za
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