AG flags R6.8m in Transport Department livestreaming contracts, recommends consequence management

The Auditor‑General (AG) has questioned roughly R6.8 million spent by the national Department of Transport on livestreaming and related media services, saying seven separate requests for quotations (RFQs) kept each award below the R1 million threshold that triggers an open competitive tender.

What the audit found

The AG identified seven RFQs with winning bids ranging from R830 000 to R997 050, which together totalled R6.795 million. The audit said these individual transactions may have remained under the R1 million threshold, but questioned whether they should have been treated as separate procurements.

The department’s own 2025–26 procurement plan estimated broader media‑related requirements at R9.34 million, which the AG said indicated the department knew, or should have known, the requirement was substantial enough to require consolidation and competitive procurement.

Recurring expenditure and procurement planning concerns

The audit noted expenditure to the identified suppliers of R5.964 million during 2025–26 and R7.311 million in the preceding financial year, bringing the total involving three suppliers to R13.275 million over two financial years. The AG said the recurring nature of the services supported its conclusion that the requirements should have been consolidated for procurement planning purposes.

“The splitting of the requirements into separate RFQ’s resulted in the department avoiding the open competitive bidding process applicable to procurement above R1 million,”

Recommendations and classification

The AG classified the expenditure as irregular and recommended the department determine the full extent of irregular expenditure in the current and previous years. It advised that recurring livestreaming services should no longer be procured via separate RFQs and that the department consolidate its annual requirement and use an open competitive bidding process where the estimated value exceeds R1 million.

The AG also recommended that consequence management be considered for officials who permitted the splitting of procurement.

Department response and next steps

The department rejected the suggestion that the transactions were deliberately split to avoid competitive tendering. Officials told the AG the RFQs related to separate events and campaigns, each with different scopes, deliverables, timing and technical requirements. The department said the combined value of separate RFQs did not, on their own, establish deliberate procurement splitting, that the requirements were not known upfront as one consolidated procurement, and that the broader media procurement was removed from its procurement plan as requirements were evolving.

The AG also found the department could not demonstrate it had first assessed whether its own communication unit had the capacity, skills and resources to provide livestreaming services internally.

The audit findings form part of an update on a protected disclosure to Songezo Zibi, chair of the standing committee on public accounts, dated 19 August. Valerie Carelse, committee secretary, did not confirm receipt of the updated disclosure with the audit finding; she said

“the chair indicated he would respond after consultation with a legal advisor”.

Adam Masombuka, the department’s acting director‑general for corporate affairs, said he was aware of the correspondence, which was also sent to Transport Minister Barbara Creecy.