By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
A former communications manager in the Department of Health,Popo Maja, appeared before the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on corruption charges related to a tender awarded to Digital Vibes.
Maja was arrested in June and appeared briefly in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, where he was granted bail of R5 000.
The matter was postponed to Wednesday, 19 July, for disclosure of the docket contents.
During a brief appearance on Wednesday, it emerged in court that the state received new evidence, resulting in another postponement to 4 October for the same reasons.
Maja faces charges of two counts of corruption worth R15 000.
It’s alleged the 63-year-old was appointed as a member of the bid specification and evaluation committee tasked with appointing a service provider to communicate services in relation to the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill.
The committee named Digital Vibes as the recommended service provider for the R141 million contract, spanning 12 months, in November 2019.
“The same day the committee sat, it’s alleged that an amount of R10 000 was paid into Maja’s personal bank account. A month later, on 05 December 2019, an amount of R5 000 was paid again to his personal account by Digital Vibes,” National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said at the time of Maja’s arrest.
Maja was one of three officials found guilty during a Health Department disciplinary hearing in July last year.
The officials were suspended in 2021 following the investigations by an independent forensic audit firm and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) into the awarding of a communication contract to Digital Vibes.
Deputy Director General Dr Anban Pillay and suspended departmental spokesperson Popo Maja were issued final written warnings and a salary level demotion for 12 months.
Pillay was further suspended for three months without pay.
The third official, Shireen Pardesi, resigned from the department with immediate effect.
Former health minister Zweli Mkhize was also heavily implicated by the SIU in the Digital Vibes Covid-19 communications saga. He, however, has not been criminally charged and was cleared of any wrongdoing by Parliament’s ethics committee.
Mkhize has denied the allegations against him even though a SIU probe linked him to the contract and the owners of Digital Vibes.
The company was initially contracted to handle the department’s National Health Insurance communication work, but its scope was later expanded to include work on the department’s Covid-19 campaigns.