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The National Prosecuting Authority says a senior official in the National Health Department appeared in court on Wednesday for corruption related to the Digital Vibes scandal that includes former Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize.
NPA Gauteng spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana, says 63-year-old Popo Maja, was granted bail of R5000 by the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court where he faces two counts of corruption in the amount of R15 000.
She said that in 2019 Maja was appointed as a member of the Bid Specification and Bid Evaluation Committee tasked to appoint a service provider to provide communication services in relation to the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill.
“It is alleged that on 01 November 2019, the Bid Evaluation Committee members set to evaluate bidders for functional and technical evaluation after Digital Vibes was recommended to be contracted the bid amount of over R141 million, for a period of 12 months.”
“The same day the committee sat, it is alleged that an amount of R10 000 was paid into Maja’s personal bank account, from the Digital Vibes bank account. A month later on 05 December 2019 an amount of R 5000 was paid again to his personal account by Digital Vibes,” Mahanjana added.
Also Read: SIU report into Digital Vibes made public
According to an SIU report into the matter, Digital Vibes had received a total of R150 million from the Department of Health intended for the National Health Insurance (NHI) campaign and vital public communications around the current Covid-19 pandemic.
The report noted that “very little of these funds were used for legitimate work as the majority of the funds were diverted to individuals for the personal benefit of themselves, family members and associates” some of whom had close ties to former Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize.
Mahanjana said the matter was postponed to 19 July 2023 for disclosure of the contents of the docket.
