Gauteng Premier David Makhura.

• Judge Billy Mothle amended paragraphs in his judgment that made it seem the premier had personally given the names of companies to be appointed as service providers for PPE as opposed to his office.
• The judgment was in relation to multimillion-rand PPE tenders that were awarded irregularly and Mothle ruled that the tenders be set aside and cancelled and the money forfeited to the state.
• One of the companies implicated was Ledla Structural Development, which is a “proxy” for Royal Bhaca Projects and is owned by presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko’s husband, Madzikane ll Thandisizwe Diko.

Gauteng Premier David Makhura has welcomed a correction to the Special Tribunal judgment – handed down in the controversial Gauteng personal protective equipment (PPE) tender awarded to Ledla Structural Development and others – which clears his name.

Following the judgment in December, which set aside the awarding of a PPE tender to Ledla Structural Development and three others, Makhura approached the tribunal to amend the judgment which stated that Kabelo Lehoenya, the former chief financial officer of the Department of Health, claimed he gave her names of companies to be appointed as service providers for PPE.

Makhura applied to the tribunal after seeing the judge had erred in substituting “the office of the premier”, which is said to have around 350 staff, with “the premier”.

“I have on receipt of the premier’s application, realised that the omission of the word ‘Office of’ before ‘the premier’ and ‘the MEC’ in the judgment text is capable of being construed to mean that the tribunal has found or decided that it was the premier personally or the MEC personally, who supplied the names. There was no such decision or finding made on the allegations,” said Judge Billy Mothle in his judgment on Monday. 

Makhura said he was happy the statement had been corrected “making it clear that there were no allegations made against the premier’s involvement in PPE procurement irregularities”.

The rest of Mothle’s judgment in the case, which was heard in December, remained unchanged. It had ordered that the tender be cancelled and the funds forfeited to the state.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) earlier found that contracts were irregularly awarded to Ledla Structural Development, which is a “proxy” for Royal Bhaca Projects and is owned by presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko’s husband, Madzikane ll Thandisizwe Diko.

The multimillion-rand PPE tender was issued by the Gauteng health department.

Mothle made his ruling after the SIU launched an urgent application before the tribunal on 19 August.

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