Karodia: Education tenders must be controlled

2012-07-18 07:56

Dumped textbooks (File)

Johannesburg - Former Limpopo education administrator Anis Karodia has called on Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to take over the department's tender allocations, invoice processing and payments, according to a report on Wednesday.

"It is my contention that all tenders above R1m must be controlled by the National Treasury and ...adjudicated by them," Karodia said in a report he compiled.

"This will eliminate interference."

He said the department's responsibilities of authorisation, processing, recording and reviewing of transactions should be separated, reported The Star newspaper.

Karodia blamed the province's education MEC, Dickson Masemola, for contributing to the department's unauthorised expenditure of R2.2bn.

As a result, it had failed to provide textbooks to learners seven months into the school year.

Karodia accused Masemola of "subtle interference" in the awarding of contracts, and added that the bid adjudication committee had been influenced by third parties.

Masemola denied any wrongdoing and said Karodia's report was "pure lies".

The "floating tabloid" report was based on unsubstantiated allegations, Masemola told The Star.

- SAPA