Lt‑Gen Molefe Fani, the SAPS’s divisional commissioner for supply chain management, said a R360m health‑risk management contract awarded to Vusimuzi Matlala’s Medicare24 Tshwane District company had followed internal procurement processes and had relied on assurances from the bid evaluation committee.
This was despite an internal audit which mentioned missing evaluation records and found evidence of fronting and other irregularities. These prompted the cancellation of the contract and led to a pending forensic probe.
Fani appeared before the ad hoc committee investigating allegations of corruption in the criminal justice system on Thursday and recounted the procurement timeline from November 2023. Altogether, 22 bids were received for the contract, including Matlala’s Medicare24 Tshwane District.
The tender required applicants to submit mandatory documents and standard bidding documents, and the successful bidder was required to provide health‑risk services such as screening new and current SAPS employees and other health‑related services.
On April 29 2024, the bid evaluation committee compiled a report recommending the appointment of Medicare24 Tshwane District. The bid adjudication committee approved the recommendation on June 14 2024, and the contract was formally awarded on June 18 2024.
“Due diligence was conducted, and all was in order in terms of the criteria for the evaluation,” Fani said.
He said the adjudication committee had raised a concern about the three‑year contract length being shorter than the customary five years. “Other than that, there was nothing material that would stop the awarding of this contract,” he added.
As chairperson of the adjudication committee, Fani outlined the multiple layers of quality assurance involved.
He said the evaluation committee assessed all bids and submitted its report to the procurement policy section for quality assurance. The section head of procurement checks and validates the report for accuracy.
“Once the section head has looked at that, he signs the report to indicate his satisfaction, then passes it over to the component head,” Fani said.
The component head conducts a second set of quality checks to ensure nothing was missed. Once satisfied, the component head signs the documents and tables them with the secretariat for deliberation by the adjudication committee.
In this situation, there were no conditions to the awarding of the tender. The members of the committee approved and signed.
— Lt‑Gen Molefe Fani
The committee then makes the final decision, selecting the company using a matrix sheet that indicates whether the award is approved and whether additional information is required.
“In this situation, there were no conditions to the awarding of the tender. The members of the committee approved and signed,” Fani said.
He told MPs that before the contract was formally awarded, the chairperson of the evaluation committee had written to national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola.
The letter inquired whether Masemola had been contacted by Investigating Directorate Against Corruption investigator Suneel Bellochun, who had raised concerns that Medicare24 allegedly did not have a valid tax clearance certificate, had been blacklisted and was linked to an entity involved in the Tembisa Hospital scandal.
Despite these allegations being raised before the final decision, Fani said the adjudication committee was not aware of those concerns when it approved the contract.
Internal audit findings, disclosed in Fani’s evidence, explain why the award has come under scrutiny.
A preliminary internal audit dated January 30 2025 identified multiple defects in the evaluation process, including an inadequate skills mix; no evidence of individual scoring sheets in the file; a failure of due diligence to capture prior unethical conduct in other procurements; evidence of misrepresentation and fronting; and risks introduced by the use of facilitators.
Fani said he had received the internal audit’s preliminary and final reports and that the national commissioner had instructed legal services and internal audit to review the files.
Masemola commissioner later asked Medicare24 Tshwane District to explain why the contract should not be terminated, and the contract was subsequently cancelled.
Fani told MPs he had not been personally aware of media allegations or the specific controversies linked to Matlala before the award. He said the central supplier database did not indicate previous problems at the time the bid was adjudicated.
“I did not know Cat Matlala at all,” he said. He also told the committee that the evaluation committee report “appeared to be complete” when it was tabled before the adjudication committee.
The adjudication committee had relied on the signed evaluation committee report and the assurances of the section head and component head, rather than re‑examining every bidder’s file.
The committee heard that key documents are missing from the procurement file. Fani confirmed he could not vouch for all the internal audit’s findings. He said that under SAPS practice, the adjudication committee does not normally re‑test every piece of evidence from the evaluation committee owing to volume and process design.
SAPS has started a forensic audit to determine the extent of irregularities and to identify implicated functionaries.
Masemola has instructed internal audit and legal services to review the award and demanded representations from the service provider.
The contract has been cancelled pending the outcome of those investigations.
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