KwaZulu-Natal private contractor Hawulethu has been found to be involved in an unlawful toilet supply deal during the Covid-19 school reopening period.
In June 2020 the KwaZulu-Natal education department awarded a contract to Hawulethu to supply 72 chemical toilets for schools returning from the Covid-19 lockdown.
The investigation began when the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) reviewed the department’s 2020 Covid-19 procurement files and noticed something suspicious: chemical toilets had been delivered to schools before Hawulethu submitted any bid documents.
This raised alarms and led investigators to dig deeper into how the contract was awarded. SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the investigation confirmed:
- the contract was improperly extended, bypassing almost every procurement rule to push the contract through, after multiple payments were split to avoid procurement thresholds, constituting a breach of financial management laws; and
- 16 officials from the supply chain staff, deputy directors and senior managers from the department and Hawulethu failed to follow the mandatory supply chain management process.
“The investigation revealed that Hawulethu was working hand-in-hand with officials. The company was receiving calls before the tender was advertised and had already placed toilets at schools before any competitive process was opened,” he said
The Special Tribunal declared the contract invalid and unconstitutional, ordering Hawulethu to submit audited financial statements showing what it spent on the toilets and to repay all profits it made from the deal with interest
Kganyago added that the contractor billed the department at a price above the normal rate, overcharging them by more than 100%, including weeks when no services were provided. The unlawful contract resulted in more than R2.5m in irregular expenditure.
The Special Tribunal declared the contract invalid and unconstitutional, ordering Hawulethu to submit audited financial statements showing what it spent on the toilets and to repay all profits it made from the deal with interest.
Kganyago said the SIU welcomes the judgment. “We commend the tribunal for placing this responsibility with the most senior official, reinforcing accountability where it matters most,” he said.
The investigation was part of the SIU’s broader probe into PPE-related corruption, authorised by President Cyril Ramaphosa under proclamation R23 of 2020. The tribunal warned that the conduct of the officials and the contractor would meet the threshold for blacklisting once the new Public Procurement Act comes into force.
“This case is a clear example of how the Covid-19 emergency processes were abused for improper gains,” it said
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