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Given the seriousness of the allegations at hand, CETA is enjoined to follow the lawful process of natural justice as provided for in the relevant prescripts of the law. – CETA CEO, Thabo Masombuka.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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The board of the Construction Education and Training Authority (Ceta) has finally suspended its CEO, Malusi Shezi, following a plethora of allegations that chiefly involve interference in supply chain management duties.

The board initially defended Shezi and blamed a whistleblower who is a former employee for driving a campaign against Shezi but as more information came forward, they had no choice but suspend him.

CETA board CEO, Thabo Masombuka, had said that since the suspension of certain CETA staff member for transgressions, the board had received weekly media inquiries from newspapers and other outlets. 

“These inquiries often contain allegations aimed at assassinating the character of our CEO and discrediting the work of the Ceta Board,” Masombuka said.

This time Masombuka was not protective of Shezi. He said in a statement that Shezi was placed on precautionary suspension pending an investigation into alleged misconduct and interference.

“Given the seriousness of the allegations at hand, CETA is enjoined to follow the lawful process of natural justice as provided for in the relevant prescripts of the law,” Masombuka said.

Shezi was accused of allegedly interfering so much in tender matters that he brazenly sidelined supply chain management officials and personally performed their work.

Some of the allegations, which are contained in a dossier with corroborating attachments, are that Shezi personally issued a request for quotation (RFQ) on January 4 2022 for companies to bid for a senior management recruitment support and board members details verification tender. Shezi allegedly did this without the involvement of any supply chain official even when one of the offered to do the job and warned him about incurring irregular expenditure.

Shezi’s alleged procurement contraventions are that he issued the request when the offices were closed; did not source quotations from the central data base according to National Treasury directives and internal supply chain management regulations; and copied a service provided in the e-mail he sent requesting the quotations.

Shezi also allegedly signed an adjudication report on a tender awarded to Five Star Communications on December 9 2021 for the supply of promotional materials before all bid adjudication committee members had done so. 

The company was not tax compliant when Shezi allegedly signed the report. Five Star had to be given seven days to fix their tax status.

The Five Star Communications tender was capped at R35 million for a period of 36 months. He also allegedly sent an appointment letter himself to the service provider.

Even when a senior supply chain official warned Shezi in writing about his interference in the RQF, he did not retreat.

Mphuti wrote: “Dear CEO. I am noting a red flag here. As things stand we will incur irregular expenditure because of the following.” Mphuthi lists concerns about Shezi usurping procurement officials’ responsibilities, such as placing the advertisement on the Ceta website.

“I humbly request a meeting with you to discuss these red flags. Remember CEO, I had offered to action the RQF even though we were on holiday. The next thing you actioned the RQF yourself by advertising the RQF on the website.”

Mphuti has since been suspended on June 1 2023 among four other supply chain management officials. She has claimed that the suspension was a witch hunt to silence him as the charges relate to a 2019 matter that was investigated and concluded.