EFF provincial secretary Simthembile Madikizela said e-learning was long overdue in the Eastern Cape, where schools were overwhelmed by a shortage of stationery.
“The MEC must refrain from behaving like he is running some club or tavern. He is running a public institution that is governed by law. He has a duty to comply with court orders and any legally binding process,” Madikizela said.
“We believe e-learning will reduce the burden of stationery on government. All he needs to do is to explore legal avenues. We call on the MEC to act in a responsible manner.”
Sita spokesperson Tlali Tlali could not respond by the time of publication.
In a previous report, Gade said “the noise” around the contract was more like politics at play.
He said it was problematic for supply chain processes to be politicised, and people who were questioning the contract were peddling falsified statements in a bid to force the department to abort the project.
However, Majiki also effectively found that, on the evidence and arguments presented to her, there was merit in reviewing all the contracts to procure information technology implicated in the tablets saga.
These included an alleged piggybacking tender process for tablets from Sizwe, and an unsolicited bid by Sizwe and MTN which incorporated providing 72,000 SIM cards to matriculants at a cost of R289m over three years.
The two companies managed to impose a condition that the contract was subject to them being granted exclusive rights to broadcast content which, Sita has estimated, could cost R32bn over the project’s life cycle.
The matter is under investigation by the Special Investigating Unit.
MANDILAKHE KWABABANA
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