The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry into corruption and criminal influence on the police and judiciary has brought to light the hidden and sometimes dirty business that goes on in the background of government tender processes.
The dirty tricks that were revealed when suspended Tshwane chief financial officer Gareth Mnisi and suspended sergeant Fannie Nkosi appeared, centred around how “preferred” bidders appeared to be finalised outside of the tendering process, with lists going back and forth between people who are directly involved in selecting the winners of the tendering process.
What is not immediately clear in the whole process is, besides the taxpayer, who suffers from these questionable practices.
The most recent example of tender processes that appear questionable is that of Lighthouse Publishers coming out of nowhere to get the lion’s share of the foundation phase of the department of basic education’s tender to produce learning material.
Although no final determination has been made as yet regarding whether everything was above board in the tendering process, the fact that Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube has ordered an investigation says a lot.
There is no rule written anywhere about who should win any tender, or how long the entities that win tenders must have been in existence for, but something as fundamental as the foundation phase of basic education is so sensitive that the entity producing the learning material should definitely have a proven track record in the field.
This country has suffered so many ills in its education system for decades. Preventable ills that could lead to even more disasters in education must be avoided.
Established players in the field that collectively have hundreds of years of experience between them invested a lot of time and money to perfect their craft in delivering quality and tested learning material.
For these companies to be given peripheral roles in the production of the learning material must not be a decision that is taken lightly.
The time and monetary investment isn’t the only consideration that must come into play, there is the very real matter of employment that is at risk.
It came as no surprise, then, that publishing giants like Maskew Miller Learning announced Section 189 processes, following their failures to secure a significant stake in the production of learning phase material.
These are real people with real jobs and incomes that will have to be sacrificed because a new entrant into the market got the biggest share of the tender.
Granted, government cannot control how private companies run their businesses, but it is still the state’s responsibility to ensure that conditions are created for businesses to create employment.
The manipulation of tenders in the manner that is being exposed at the Madlanga commission has shown how some individuals have amassed untold wealth through the processes but, unfortunately, the other side of the coin isn’t immediately explored.
No one can immediately quantify how many employment opportunities are lost because of such corruption.
The cost of corruption in tenders is almost always quantified in monetary terms, for instance, how much the winning bidder gets for the project, but it is almost impossible to quantify the human cost of a wrongfully awarded tender.
Should it turn out that new kids on block Lighthouse Publishers got the tender fairly, it will obviously mean new jobs are created.
But would it not have been cheaper and faster to stick with tried-and-tested giants of the field?
Stability and continuity in the foundation phase should be top of the list when entities are chosen to publish learning material.
It cannot be that change happens simply for its own sake.
