Failure to follow due diligence, dodgy tender awards, deliberate delays, fake court actions and malicious social media campaigns all feature as elements in a campaign to halt public works and infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson.
Speaking at a media briefing on Sunday, Macpherson laid out an ongoing investigation into the Independent Development Trust (IDT).
The IDT is a public entity established to deliver social infrastructure such as schools, police stations and clinics and falls under the department.
Macpherson said his appointment last July came at a time when the IDT was facing serious, documented claims of alleged mismanagement and corruption that were challenges faced by his predecessor Patricia de Lille to clean up the agency.
While De Lille failed to see through any reforms, Macpherson believes she “was on the right track and I decided to build on what she started”.
“When I entered office, the IDT was about to miss the deadline to submit its annual reports to parliament, and the report would reveal an unacceptable culture of weak internal financial controls, problematic tender processes and insufficient audit oversight,” he said, adding this followed a string of successive qualified audits from the auditor-general.
In October the Daily Maverick published a series of articles “surrounding the now-infamous R836m oxygen plant tender”.
The articles described the IDT as the implementing agent in a multi-million-rand contract with the department of health for the rollout of pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants.
The contract was for the installation of oxygen infrastructure at 55 public health facilities across the country, with two private contractors appointed by the IDT through “a competitive process”.
Investigations by Daily Maverick and amaBhungane revealed that two of the companies awarded tenders lacked the necessary South African Health Products Regulatory Authority registration, raising red flags over basic compliance.
“On October 29 2024, I asked the IDT board for a full account of the allegations. On November 1 2024, I received an executive summary lacking substance — no supporting documents, no signed contracts, no evidence of proper procurement procedures.”
Macpherson requested specific documentation and minutes of the bid evaluation and bid adjudication committees.
His second response arrived on November 8, again missing critical documents that had been asked for.
Later in November another article claimed that a ghost company with fraudulent documentation had been awarded a R428m share of the PSA oxygen plant tender.
Macpherson took his concerns to President Cyril Ramaphosa and called for the immediate suspension of the tender. This led to the department of health withdrawing the contract from the IDT, announcing its intention to investigate how the tenders were awarded.
In December Macpherson launched an independent investigation into the IDT and the tender, triggering a fight back by the IDT.
Macpherson then appointed PwC to head an independent investigation that is still ongoing.
This triggered several media reports critical of Macpherson along with a steady social media campaign accusing him of racism from a series of bot accounts and what he described as a campaign of “bogus” stories, reports in which his responses were ignored or not carried in full and a “media storm” followed.
He said journalist JJ Tabane published an opinion piece on TimesLIVE in January claiming Macpherson had bribed a journalist to attack the IDT and had interfered in its operations.
I have feedback from the department and PwC that, in February this year, at an introductory meeting between PwC investigators and the board of the IDT, various IDT officials, IDT management and many of the trustees who were appointed before my tenure made unjustified demands as prerequisites to co-operating with the investigation
— Public works and infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson
“He accused me of hiring cronies at the Construction Industry Development Board despite the board being appointed before my term,” Macpherson said.
Political parties joined the fightback campaign against him, the EFF opened a criminal case against him and ActionSA called for his suspension.
AI voice notes against him were discredited and TimesLIVE apologised for carrying the Tabane piece due to “insufficient evidence of the allegations”.
Macpherson said on Sunday he was ready to make more revelations.
“I have feedback from the department and PwC that, in February this year, at an introductory meeting between PwC investigators and the board of the IDT, various IDT officials, IDT management and many of the trustees who were appointed before my tenure made unjustified demands as prerequisites to co-operating with the investigation.”
These demands, he said, included the department having to obtain prior approval form the department of health and that the IDT must be given the investigation’s full terms of reference.
This had already led to huge delays in getting the investigation going, and that the IDT had just days ago provided documents requested in February, and that these were incomplete.
“The investigation is only 25% complete despite starting in January. It should have been completed by now,” Macpherson said.
He said the final report “will be available to myself as the minister by the end of May whereby I will make it available to the president, public and cabinet”.
He said formal applications had led to the appointment of five new trustees at the IDT and all positions were filled for the first time in over 18 months.
He said while the board now has the legal standing to fulfil its governance obligations, two entities have since applied to the courts to have the five IDT board appointments set aside.
“This despite how urgently these appointments are needed in the circumstances. The application is based on meritless grounds,” Macpherson said.
“It is no coincidence that the litigation comes in the context of the fightback that I have set out. The board will be meeting tomorrow to elect a chairperson, and I urge them to all comply with the PwC investigation.”
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