A recommendation by the Gauteng ANC’s integrity commission that health MEC Bandile Masuku must voluntarily resign was a sticking point at the party's two-day meeting which ended in a stalemate.
Sowetan has established that the provincial executive committee (PEC) meeting took a decision to refer the integrity commission's report to its provincial working committee after members argued that the report was riddled with inconsistencies and had gaps in its findings.
The commission was tasked with investigating whether there was any conflict of interest or influence in the awarding of the multi-million rand personal protective equipment gear tender by the provincial health department.
The tender awarded by Masuku's department to President Cyril Ramaphosa's spokesperson Khusela Diko’s husband chief Thandiziwe Diko’s company Royal Bhaca, has been a subject of public scrutiny.
Masuku and his wife Loyiso are friends with the Dikos.
During the Sunday and Monday marathon meeting of the Gauteng PEC, the integrity commission's report which cleared Loyiso and Diko but scathing on Masuku, was presented and debated at length.
The report made adverse findings against Masuku on leadership role which was not the focus of the investigation, according to PEC members. It was on this basis that the report recommended he must resign from office.
Insiders told Sowetan that the bone on contention was a finding that found no wrongdoing on Masuku's side but found him wanting on the oversight role to his department embroiled in the PPE scandal.
“You say he must resign voluntarily but there is no wrongdoing that you find. So that's why the PEC felt there was shortcomings with this report. Loyiso is not found to have done wrong anywhere in the report yet it is said she is the mastermind, how is that possible,” said an insider.
“When it [report] comes back we will have different recommendations and all three will have to go.”
Insiders further said the inconsistencies that the PEC found related to how the provincial integrity commission (PIC) "unfairly analysed the relationships between the affected parties".
“When you say a perceived relationship between Khusela and Thandisizwe can guarantee him a tender and then you come to somebody who has a former business relationship and you say that perceived relationship doesn’t mean anything, that’s inconsistency,” said another PEC member.
Loyiso and Thandiziwe were business partners and directors of the same company at one point.
The meeting, according to sources, was also baffled by another recommendation that said Masuku must step aside pending the release of Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report release, while at another point the report said he must resign completely.
The report has been taken to the provincial working committee to plug the gaps identified during the PEC gathering. It is expected to be completed between October 3 and 10.
Sowetan understands that the meeting found it concerning that the PIC made no findings on their core task of investigating allegations of conflict of interest and influencing on tenders.
"It’s not a matter of terms of reference, it’s a matter of which one was the biggest focus for the PIC and which one is the biggest focus of the public and of the PEC and with the public we want to check that a R125m tender was awarded, whether it was indeed awarded irregularly and it was awarded to this person who relates to this person and perhaps he got this by relationship with this person," said a PEC member.
ANC provincial secretary Jacob Khawe said they felt the PIC had rushed their report and made recommendations based on information that only the SIU could provide.
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