Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has argued that since he did not personally benefit from an irregularly awarded contract to Digital Vibes by the Department of Health (DoH), there is no need for him to step aside.

Calls for Mkhize to step aside from his role come as the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probes an expose by the Daily Maverick that his department irregularly awarded a R150-million contract in 2019 to Digital Vibes to provide communication services for government’s National Health Insurance and Covid-19 response.

Digital Vibes is apparently controlled by Mkhize’s former spokesperson Tahera Mather and former personal assistant Naadhira Mitha.

The SIU said on Tuesday that it was committed to concluding the investigation by the end of June.

In a media briefing on Wednesday, Mkhize said his department had cooperated and ensured that there were no obstructions to the investigation.

He confirmed that the Daily Maverick report, which said the awarding of the Digital Vibes contract by the DoH was irregular, as confirmed by the Auditor General, was accurate.

The investigation found that the tender bidding process was in contravention of the Public Finance Management Act and the process of appointing Digital Vibes was irregular.

The investigation points to inconsistencies in the bid committees, a lack of disclosure of conflict of interest and an amount of some R37-million paid to Digital Vibes that constitutes fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

In respect to Covid-19-related communications work that was performed by Digital Vibes, the investigators noted that the service provider received requests for work from the DoH prior to their contract being expanded to include Covid-19 communication.

These requests resulted in a financial commitment of some R35-million that the department ended up paying after the expansion was approved.

The investigators, therefore, concluded that any amount which was paid to Digital Vibes for any work done in relation to Covid-19 communication, prior to the approval of the expansion to include Covid-19 work, was irregular as the expenditure was incurred in contravention of Treasury Regulations.

Mkhize said as Minister his obligation was to declare any conflict of interest when it arose and in this instance, he had not identified any conflict of interest.

He denied being personal friends with Mather and Mitha; however, he said they were certainly comrades as he had worked with them during the course of his political and official duties.

“I did not participate in the company’s appointment process. I did not in any way influence the selection of employees or consultants of the company. Even at a departmental level, the Minister is only informed once the whole procurement and administrative process has been concluded,” he explained.

He said he did not have the benefit of seeing the invoices that were paid by the department, and added that he was saddened that a contract that was supposed to have fulfilled public good had now violated constitutional principles that were meant to be adhered to by his department.

“Personally, I must express my sense of shock at the figures that have now been disclosed in the report as constituting irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mkhize confirmed that the director-general had formally reported the matter to National Treasury, as required, and the process of consequence management, such as disciplinary action against implicated individuals, was also underway.

He said that legal processes to recover funds that the department should not have paid had also begun.