​Thembisa Shologu
Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has confirmed that it has received the independent legal advisory report on the how best they can implement the Special Investigations Unit's (SIU) recommendations on the illicit school decontamination project.
This report follows allegations that the department misused about R431 million in its procurement processes for COVID-19 decontamination at Gauteng schools between June and August 2020. 
Following a meeting held on Monday, the department said MEC Panyaza Lesufi is in consultation with all affected stakeholders concerning the advisory report. 
"It is important to note that, upon conclusion of the ongoing consultation process, the Department will in due course release an appropriate statement on necessary action taken in implementing the SIU findings accordingly," said the department's spokesperson, Steve Mabona. 
Previously, SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the unit was granted a preservation order by the Special Tribunal to freeze bank accounts and assets belonging to 14 service providers. 
"We found a lot of irregularities, the whole procurement processes were found to be unlawful," said Kganyago. 
The report also revealed that service providers were not paid per square meter of the area cleaned. The average price paid for a school is R250 000, translating to R100 per square meter for decontamination. 
"The service providers were not paid per square meter of the area cleaned. Rather, a senior official in the department appears to have arbitrarily decided to offer a fee of R250 000 to R270 000 for the decontamination of primary schools, R250 000 to R290 000 for secondary schools and R250 000 to R300 000 for district offices," he said​