The corruption trial of Popo Maja, former director of communications in the national Health Department who was implicated in the Digital Vibes case, was postponed this week to 29 November.
It had been due to start on Monday, but his lawyers told the Pretoria Specialised Crime Court that he was waiting for his pension when he retires at the end of October so that he can pay lawyers to defend him, reports News24.
Maja was arrested in June 2023 and charged with two counts of corruption for his alleged role in awarding a contract of more than R140m to Digital Vibes to provide communication services to the department for the NHI programme.
According to the charge sheet, Maja was part of the committee that assessed bids for the tender.
It’s alleged he was paid two bribes amounting to R15 000, the charge sheet showing the money flowed from a Digital Vibes bank account into one owned by Tahera Mather, and from there, into Maja’s bank account.
Mather was one of the de facto owners of Digital Vibes, even though the director was listed as Radha Hariram, a Stanger petrol station manager. The other owner was Naadirah Mitha.
Scandal
Maja’s case is the second court matter relating to the Digital Vibes allegations. In the first, Lizeka Tonjeni, who worked for the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA), was found guilty of accepting a bribe from Digital Vibes, which bagged a R3.9m contract from the state organisation.
Tonjeni had accepted the R160 000 bribe while she was the project manager for the communications tender.
During the trial, state advocate Willem van Zyl said bank records proved that money MISA had paid to Digital Vibes was transferred to several other accounts, including an FNB account belonging to a company named Composite Trade and Investments, which was linked to Mather.
Further evidence showed that, according to MISA’s records, Tonjeni had not made any financial disclosures between 2018 and 2020.
Tonjeni claimed she had received two loans from Mather and sold her healthcare products.
At the time, MISA fell under the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, of which Zweli Mkhize was minister until May 2019.
Mather was Mkhize’s spokesperson at that stage.
Digital Vibes has also been the subject of an investigation into a R150m health department tender, found by the SIU to be irregular and unlawful. The SIU also found that Mkhize and his family had benefitted from the tender.
No allegations have been levelled against Mather, Mitha or Mkhize in the Tonjeni or Maja cases.
The SIU is still investigating.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Digital Vibes-linked official’s case postponed
Health Department official resigns over Digital Vibes, colleagues demoted
Demotions ‘a slap on the wrist’ for top officials implicated in Digital Vibes scandal