The project in question is the Silapha Wellness Intervention Programme, which was introduced by former sport, arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa in February 2021.
Oupa Bopape
The department of sport, arts and culture has come under criticism after awarding an R18 million tender to another company to re-pilot a project that had already been piloted for almost R15 million.
The project in question is the Silapha Wellness Intervention Programme, which was introduced by former sport, arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa in February 2021 to help athletes and creatives maintain their health following the outbreak of Covid-19.
The aim of the programme is to urge athletes and creatives to speak up when they need assistance.
Talking about the programme during the Northern Cape activation, Mthethwa said that more than 1 000 athletes and creatives had already been helped.
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Indingliz Advertising & Marketing was roped in to offer the athletes and creatives counselling and educational support so that they could better sustain their careers.
The company helped with matters related to managing lifestyles, finances and mental health (which included substance abuse), while also offering legal advice.
However, after carrying out the mandate for three years, Indingliz’s contract was not renewed and was awarded to Workforce Healthcare. Davis Khoza, the owner of Indingliz, said he did not understand why it had not retained the contract, since the pilot had been a success.
“I’m surprised that the tender wasn’t re-awarded to us because we did very well.” He said:
We were given a target of the number of artists and athletes we were supposed to reach, and we did. Indeed, we reached double that number.
Tsepo Mhlongo, the DA’s shadow minister for sport, arts and culture, said he was waiting for a response from the current minister of the department, Zizi Kodwa, on the matter.
“I’m waiting for the minister to respond to my formal questions, such as why appoint a new company when this was a pilot programme? Why isn’t the department open with the committee and giving us a closed-up report? Why isn’t it telling us whether there were any gaps that Indingliz [didn’t cover] and whether it applied for a new tender? [We] need a detailed supply chain report that will give us a true reflection of what processes were or weren’t followed,” said Mhlongo.
“For these types of interventions to be successful, there needs to be continuity. The minister can’t scrap projects and start anew every three years. The decision to re-pilot the same programme with a new service provider, which allegedly has no experience in wellness, reeks of corruption and wasteful expenditure.”
Addressing the portfolio committee on sport, arts and culture on May 2, acting director-general Cynthia Khumalo said the Silapha project had reached a total of 2 195 stakeholders (contradicting Mthethwa’s Northern Cape address) and added that only 518 of those had made follow-up contact to the toll-free call centre or in person.
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“Surprisingly, when we look at this closed-out report, contrary to popular belief, we found that the majority of the users of this particular intervention programme were men.
“I’m saying ‘contrary to popular belief’ because we usually assume that men don’t readily come forward to talk about their challenges,” said Khumalo.
She added that 31% of the programme users had sought support for mental health-related issues and 15% had wanted financial advice. Last week, Khumalo told City Press that, when the previous contract had ended, it had gone out for tender again.
“Like the normal process, once an open tender expires, one has to advertise a new one. That was the competitive process the department followed and, through it, another company was appointed,” she said.
Asked why the department had not continued with Indingliz, given the success of the pilot programme, she replied:
The tender’s for three years and once they’ve passed, you go on to a new tender process.
“You can’t decide: ‘Okay, we’re going to appoint [the same company using] the same process.’ It doesn’t work like that in government.”
She said that, every three years, there would be an open tender process, adding that money was not being wasted because artists and athletes used the programme. However, the department could not appoint the same company.
This week, City Press reported that the department had spent a whopping R16 million last month for 360 guests to attend an event honouring South Africa’s recent Grammy Award winners.
Source: https://www.news24.com/citypress/news/government-slated-for-arbitrarily-ending-tender-20230528
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