Health officials in Gauteng placed orders for personal protection equipment and other products related to the fight against Covid-19 at a cost of more than R500-million above market-related prices.
Our investigation reveals that respirator masks, theatre gowns and visors were especially subjected to extreme mark-ups. The basket of items Scorpio focused on were those that could most readily and reliably be subjected to price comparisons. These are FFP2 and N95 respirator masks, surgical masks, cloth masks, biohazard bags, surgical gowns, visors, digital thermometers, surgical gloves and hand sanitiser.
This apparent raid of public coffers could partly be blamed on the fact that government officials routinely tend to procure goods and services from opportunistic entities and businesspeople who don’t normally operate in the relevant industry sectors. Of the 361 companies that got paid by the province, 47 were only registered to the central supplier database after 15 March, the day on which President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the country’s state of disaster.
The GDH ordered just over three million N95 masks from 10 suppliers at an average cost of R61 per mask. In all, the department was due to pay these companies R200.3-million. Our research shows there were far more cost-effective options available and that the masks should have cost only R76-million. The province’s orders for FFP2 masks also contained prices that were much higher than comparable market rates. Our research, which incorporated prices from two suppliers in KZN and one in the Western Cape, reflects an average price of R31.80 for FFP2 masks at the time the GDH placed its orders.
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