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By Samkelo Mtshali 
21h ago
The Minister of COMMUNICATIONS and Digital Technologies, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, has not yet revealed the truth that she promised to share regarding her participation in a R2.1 billion bidding scandal.
The Star reported on Friday that Ndabeni-Abrahams had been accused of breaching acquisition processes by a senior official at the South African Post Office (SAPO) after she introduced the businessman and president of private equity firm Convergence Partners, Andile Ngcaba, to SAPO executives in an alleged offer to partner on a highly lucrative e-commerce platform of R2.1billion.
Ndabeni-Abrahams took to her Facebook page and posted a photo of The Star’s main story, titled “Ndabeni-Abrahams Breaks the Law, Again” and captioned it: “The Despair Continues. Stay tuned for the truth. The times. they will be shared in Tomorrow. “
Despite his promise to share the moments when he would share his “truth”.
Ndabeni-Abrahams is not new to the controversy, as earlier this year she broke lockdown level 5 regulations by visiting former Deputy Higher Education Minister Mduduzi Manana’s home for Sunday lunch, where she was photographed enjoying lunch. with Manana’s family.
On April 8, President Cyril Ramaphosa suspended her for two months, with one month unpaid, for violating strict lockdown regulations. She returned to her post in June.
Democratic Alliance Communications spokeswoman Phumzile van Damme said Ndabeni-Abrahams should step aside to allow investigations against her to be investigated without hindrance.
“The latest allegation is that in July 2020, Ndabeni-Abrahams circumvented the acquisition processes at the South African Post Office (SAPO) by introducing an entrepreneur and chairman of private equity firm Convergence Partners, Andile Ngcaba, to SAPO executives in an alleged partner attempt on a highly lucrative e-commerce platform R2.1 billion.
“The district attorney knows in good faith that this is a practice that Ndabeni-Abrahams regularly participates in: facilitating ‘meetings’ to influence the results in the award of tenders. This is said to occur not only in his department but in many others, “Van said. Damme.
He added that although Ndabeni-Abrahams had made himself available to the ANC’s Integrity Commission “that is neither here nor there.”
Van Damme said the allegations were related to the offense in her capacity as a minister, an elected public representative not just as a member of the ANC.
“The ANC is within its right to investigate the conduct of the Minister, but it requires one carried out by a public law enforcement agency. And it is a practice that the individual involved withdraws or is suspended. This is a precedent set by the President Cyril Ramaphosa himself when his spokesperson Khusela Diko was absent following a tender Covid-19 scandal.
“We continue to firmly believe that Ndabeni-Abrahams is unfit for her position and should be fired. We look forward to the imminent reorganization of the rumored cabinet and are confident that she will be pulled straight out the door,” Van Damme said.
Meanwhile, the South African post office disputed the allegations made in Star’s article.
In a statement issued Friday, the SAPO said they would investigate the source who shared “malicious information” with the media.
“The SA Post Office can state categorically that at no time did the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies interfere in the recruitment processes of the SA Post Office in any way. The Post Office is investigating the source of the malicious information which was sent to the media, which appears to be a disgruntled senior official. It should also be noted that at no time did the author of the article approach the South African Post Office to confirm the unfounded allegations made in the article. ” read in the statement.
Political Bureau
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