ANC Women’s League national executive committee member and Eastern Cape transport MEC Weziwe Tikana is at the centre of a controversy involving the purchasing of digital 'smartpens' to the tune of R4.5-million.
The purchase took place while Tikana was still an official at the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta).
She reportedly requested the procurement of smartpens for the use of community development workers (CDWs). The smartpens were meant to enable the CDWs to relay information gathered from families who needed social grants or housing to the department’s database in a flash.
The pens have a tiny infrared camera and Bluetooth wireless technology which converts handwritten information into digital data.
They are also able to take pictures.
In total‚ 320 were bought at a cost of R4.5-million‚ including an annual subscription fee of R766 080 that was to be paid for three years and a monthly bill of R76 000 paid each month over three years to Vodacom for airtime.
The department had entered a 36-month contract with a private company from March 2013 for the provision and maintenance of the pens but they remained unused and are still gathering dust at the department’s head office in Bhisho.
Cogta’s acting head of department Ngaka Mosehana revealed this to members of the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) at the provincial legislature on Monday.
He said the purchase of the smartpens was the subject of a forensic investigation which was expected to be completed by December.
Part of the investigation is an amount of R109 000 which was used to print digital forms without following procurement processes.
This amount has been categorised as fruitless and wasteful by the auditor-general.
-More in the Daily Dispatch.
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