KZN official handed suspended sentence for PPE corruption

The Special Investigating Unit has welcomed the conviction and sentencing of a former KwaZulu-Natal education department financial manager for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) related crime.

The official, Lungelo Stewart Mhlongo, was recently handed a two-year imprisonment sentence by the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court for contravening the Public Administration Management Act. The sentence was suspended for five years on condition that he is not found guilty of the same offence during the period.

Mhlongo’s conviction follows the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) referral to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) after uncovering evidence pointing to criminal activity during the PPE investigation.

“The referral was in line with the Special Investigating Unit and Special Tribunal’s Act 74 of 1996, which requires the SIU to refer evidence pointing to criminal conduct to the NPA for further action,” said SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago.

The SIU investigations found that Mhlongo had failed to inform the KZN Department of Education, when he had a legal duty as a public officer that he had an interest in a service provider which had secured two contracts for the supply and delivery of spray pumps to the value of R1 241 425.

Mhlongo, as a Finance Manager employed in the finance unit of the provincial Department of Education, contravened the following:

• Failed to disclose his interests with the service provider.
• Was party to a contract with a service provider that was conducting business with the state, while still an employee of the KZN Department of Education (DoE).
• Failed to disclose his financial interests and or benefits as a cardholder of the service provider’s business account, to Head of Department of the KZN DoE.
• Entered transaction or acted in a way that conflicted with or infringed upon his or her duties, or which appeared to do so.
• He performed or engaged himself to perform remunerative work outside his employment in the public service without the requisite permission being granted by the DoE Head of Department.

The SIU was mandated through Proclamation No. R23 of 2020, to investigate the affairs of all State institutions in respect of the procurement or contracting for goods, works and services, during, or in respect of the National State of Disaster, by or on behalf or State institutions.

Kganyago said the Mhlongo’s conviction is a clear demonstration of cooperation by State institutions in the implementation of the SIU investigation outcomes and consequence management to recover assets and financial losses suffered by State institutions and/or to prevent further losses.