City Press this morning reports Sam Vilakazi, a deputy DG in the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services, is being investigated for collusion.
According to the paper, Vilakazi chaired a tender committee that is accused of colluding with the owners of Media Corner over a R756 million marketing deal to inform South Africans about the switch over to digital TV.
City Press adds Vilakazi was hired by the former Department of Communications despite having an adverse credit listing over a R108 643 credit listing from Wesbank. The paper also notes the State Security Agency had warned he posed a security risk.
Vilakazi was appointed to his current position in August 2012. He holds a Bachelor of Public Administration degree from the University of North West, a post-graduate diploma in Business Management from the University of Natal, a post-graduate diploma in Management from the Management College of Southern Africa, and a PhD in Management of Technology and innovation from the Da Vinci Institute of Technology.
Prior to joining government, Vilakazi held various management roles in the Mineworkers Development Agency, starting out in 1999 as a manager based in the Northern Cape before being promoted to the national office in Johannesburg in 2001. In this role he provided strategic and operational leadership throughout the country and in Lesotho
In 2004, Vilakazi joined the Small Enterprise Development Agency as a manager responsible for the agency's access to markets and finance, entrepreneurship, information and communication technology programmes. In 2008, he joined the then Department of Communications as a chief director for enterprise development, where he was responsible for facilitating the development of small, medium and micro enterprises in the information and communication technology sector.
The former Department of Communications (DOC) was split last May to create the new Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS), which has oversight of several projects such as broadband, and the new DOC, which has been criticised by analysts as being government's propaganda arm.
The City Press reports Vilakazi, and 15 other employees in the department, have been charged and face disciplinary action over the Media Corner tender.
In February 2014, president Jacob Zuma authorised the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to probe the Media Corner deal after a former DOC official, in his application for indemnity from disciplinary action, lodged documents in the Johannesburg Labour Court exposing alleged irregular payments to the company, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has noted.
According to the official opposition, the now DTPS DG, Rosey Sekese, and Vilakazi, were implicated in these papers as having played pivotal roles in the deal to pay R983 335 a month over three years to Media Corner, allegedly without adequate funding available. "There was little billable evidence to support most of the money paid out."
The DA adds, last November, Sekese wrote to 15 employees informing them the department had received "the outcome of the investigation, pending further verifications into other matters relating to the tender by the SIU. The outcome of the SIU investigation has implicated you on serious misconduct related to improper/or unlawful conduct in respect of the awarding of the above-mentioned tender."
The letter threatened "precautionary suspension with full benefits" to prevent these employees jeopardising the internal investigation, but none were suspended, alleges the DA. The Sunday paper adds neither Vilakazi, his lawyer, or Media Corner commented on the collusion allegations.
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