ANC integrity commission chairperson George Mashamba says Health Minister Zweli Mkhize should have presented himself to the commission to explain his department’s contract with media consultancy Digital Vibes, according to News24
He said the commission would meet tomorrow and was likely to invite Mkhize to appear before it.
Last week, Mkhize admitted that the R159 million communications tender awarded to Digital Vibes was irregular, but denied having links to those involved in the company or personally benefiting from the relationship.
He confirmed that there was irregular expenditure of at least R35 million in the communications contract with Digital Vibes and that the department would fully co-operate with investigators from the Special Investigations Unit.
The duo running the company, Tahera Mather and Naadhira Mitha, have worked closely with Mkhize in the past.
News24 quoted Mashamba as saying: ‘If a person finds themselves implicated in an issue that could bring the organisation into disrepute, he must come to the integrity commission to explain himself.’
The report said News24 understood that ‘Mkhize’s backers from KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape had sought to convince him to voluntarily step aside in the wake of the scandal plaguing his office’.
It cited two sources as saying that Mkhize ‘appeared to be compliant with the suggestion and was ‘working out the mechanics of his departure’.
[Image: GovernmentZA]