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By Ayanda Mdluli 
3h ago
Johannesburg – The Independent Media Special Investigations Unit has uncovered further wrongdoing by Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams.
Following the revelations released in recent weeks, the unit has now learned that at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in July, Ndabeni-Abrahams was accused of disobeying procurement processes by a senior official at the Post Office of South Africa.
Ndabeni-Abrahams introduced businessman and president of private equity firm Convergence Partners, Andile Ngcaba, to the entity’s executives in an alleged offer to partner on a highly lucrative e-commerce platform of R2.1billion.
Although Ndabeni-Abrahams and Ngcaba have denied the claim, a high-ranking whistleblower at the post office alleged that in July, Ndabeni-Abrahams introduced Ngcaba to the board outside of normal procurement processes and told them to partner with him and his company on the e-commerce platform called Combat Covid-19 Africa.
This was in the context that the post office had already completed a similar task and had already identified a service provider after going through an extensive Request for Information (RFI).
According to the source, Ngcaba had not responded to any request for information, neither he nor his organization had presented any document to show that they were bidding for a contract or partnership with the entity.
Ngcaba, who denied the allegations through his lawyers, said the presentation was at the invitation of the deputy general manager.
His attorney Eric Mabuza said Ngcaba made the presentation in his capacity as convener and leader of the non-profit organization Combat Covid-19 Africa.
He provided an email dated July 2, 2020, where he was asked to participate.
Independent Media has seen two emails, one dated July 17, 2020, and another dated July 23, 2020, where the Ndabeni-Abrahams office asked the Post Office to discuss their e-commerce platform.
Ngcaba is also the recipient of one of the emails where the minister asks postal officials to prepare a presentation on the state of readiness of their projects on the e-commerce platform.
“Dr. Ngcaba made this presentation in his capacity as coordinator and leader of the non-profit organization Combat Covid-19 Africa. Combat Covid-19 Africa has no commercial interest, ”Mabuza said.
“Therefore, it follows that Combat Covid-19 Africa is not a service provider for Sapo or any other company,” he said.
Ndabeni-Abrahams spokesman Mish Molakeng said the emails were internal correspondence between the minister and her department.
According to the source, when the meeting finally took place, the post office first presented its e-commerce delivery strategy.
“Ngcaba then introduced its e-commerce ecosystem, which advocated for partnerships with Sapo to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. The platform, according to Ngcaba, would eliminate the payment of tariffs on a wide variety of goods traded between African countries, ”said the source.
Ngcaba then further proposed that the entity’s e-commerce platform be built on its Combat Covid-19 Africa platform that offers e-commerce, e-learning, artificial intelligence, and track and trace functions, the source said.
The source added that the government data that was to be given to Ngcaba as a private entity for processing on its system violated the government’s data protection policies.
However, Ngcaba’s attorney denied these claims.
“It is indeed incorrect to state that government data was supposed to be shared with Combat Covid-19 Africa when the presentation simply poses a question to the audience to see what competitive strategy can be used in the e-commerce space,” he said.
INDEPENDENT MEDIA SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT
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