{"id":399417,"date":"2021-05-30T06:41:03","date_gmt":"2021-05-30T04:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=399417"},"modified":"2021-05-30T06:45:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-30T04:45:44","slug":"mkhize-under-pressure-to-step-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/government\/399417-mkhize-under-pressure-to-step-down.html","title":{"rendered":"Mkhize under pressure to step down"},"content":{"rendered":"

South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, once considered a possible successor to President Cyril Ramaphosa, is facing pressure to stand down after being linked to a tendering scandal.<\/p>\n

The Daily Maverick reported this month that the health department awarded a 150 million-rand ($10.9 million) contract to Digital Vibes, a company controlled by two of Mkhize\u2019s former aides, to help communicate the government\u2019s pandemic response.<\/p>\n

The money was largely wasted and proper procurement processes weren\u2019t followed, the Cape Town-based news website said.<\/p>\n

The nation\u2019s Special Investigative Unit was appointed to probe the matter, and on May 26 Mkhize told reporters the deal was irregular and disciplinary action would be taken against those responsible.<\/p>\n

While describing public outrage as \u201cjustified,\u201d he denied playing any role in the company\u2019s appointment or that he was friends with the people working there.<\/p>\n

\"Zweli<\/a>

Health minister Zweli Mkhize<\/p><\/div>\n

The Daily Maverick published another report late Friday stating that Digital Vibes settled invoices for maintenance work at a property owned by Mkhize\u2019s family trust and transferred at least 300,000 rand to a company owned by his son in May last year.<\/p>\n

Lwazi Manzi, the minister\u2019s spokeswoman, didn\u2019t respond to a text message seeking comment about the latest revelations. Calls to the company went unanswered.<\/p>\n

Siviwe Gwerube, the shadow health minister for the main opposition Democratic Alliance, called on Mkhize to step aside until the Special Investigative Unit, the SIU, submits its final report, which it is due to do in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt cannot be that the very person entrusted with the Covid-19 response in the country is embroiled in this kind of scandal involving public money,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Leadership Bid<\/h3>\n

Mkhize is a political heavyweight in South Africa; He served as treasurer-general of the ruling African National Congress prior to becoming health minister and ran for the party leadership in 2017, a contest that was won by Ramaphosa.<\/p>\n

\"Cyril<\/a>

President Cyril Ramaphosa<\/p><\/div>\n

A medical doctor, he has spearheaded the nation\u2019s coronavirus response and initially won widespread praise for his sombre approach toward tackling the pandemic.<\/p>\n

He contracted Covid-19 as he crisscrossed the country to assess the state of the health system and made scores of public appearances to educate the public about the disease.<\/p>\n

His star waned somewhat as infections skyrocketed — the country has had more than 1.6 million confirmed cases so far. The government was also slow off the mark to begin administering vaccines, in part because of protracted wrangling with suppliers over contractual terms.<\/p>\n

Ramaphosa said Mkhize had briefed him about the Digital Vibes contract and he was awaiting the submission of the SIU\u2019s final report.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to take time to consider what they come up with, and after that will be able to handle the matter,\u201d he told reporters in Pretoria on Friday after holding talks with his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron.<\/p>\n

Now read: Digital TV migration in South Africa \u2013 behind schedule, but happening<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, once considered a possible successor to President Cyril Ramaphosa, is facing pressure to stand down after being linked to a tendering scandal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341034,"featured_media":382542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18668],"tags":[1952,70003,63425],"class_list":["post-399417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-digital-vibes","tag-zweli-mkhize"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399417"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399419,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399417\/revisions\/399419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}