SMMEs get nearly half of the R1.25bn Western Cape has spent on Covid-19

Nearly half of the R1.25bn the Western Cape government has spent on fighting Covid-19 has gone to small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs).

This emerged on Tuesday in the second edition of the procurement disclosure report published by the provincial treasury. It said small businesses had received R669m (47.41%) of the Covid-19 spend.

The report, which is planned as a monthly, quarterly and annual publication, reveals R682m was spent between April 1 and July 31 on personal protective equipment (PPE) and R575m on other Covid-19 requirements including disinfection services, quarantine and isolation facilities, and field hospitals.

The department of health's R797m is the biggest spend by far, followed by the education department's R475m. The human settlements department spent just R19,780, all of it on masks.

Finance MEC David Maynier said the report also included National Treasury benchmark prices and details of how the province had responded to them.

The Treasury benchmarks show the price of a body bag has more than doubled during the pandemic, from R272 to R575. Other items, such as digital thermometers, have halved in price.

The head of the provincial treasury, David Savage, said future editions of the report would “further enhance transparency in our supply chain management processes”.

The new report said existing contracts were used where possible to source PPE, but there was also a need for competitive tendering and emergency procurement.

“As far as possible, most emergency processes were tested for competitive pricing and negotiations with suppliers were undertaken to obtain value for money,” it said. “It must be noted these transactions occurred during a period of unprecedented global demand for PPE. This sudden imbalance between demand and supply caused shortages and thus significant price increases.

“This situation was made worse by disruptions to both PPE production and delivery as a result of global and domestic lockdowns.”

TimesLIVE