Former health minister Zweli Mkhize's name has surfaced in a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) investigation probing how a KwaZulu-Natal provincial treasury tender ballooned from R3.5 million to R114 million. News24 can reveal that an SIU investigation, completed last February, found that a contract for the provision of forensic risk services called Operation Unembeza awarded to Universal Security Services (USS) by the provincial treasury in September 2007 was irregular. Mkhize was MEC for finance and economic development at the time. According to an affidavit by an SIU investigator, which formed the basis of the SIU's findings, the circumstances around USS' appointment showed that in February 2008, the KZN treasury's former head Sipho Shabalala wrote a letter to Mkhize motivating for Operation Unembeza to be rolled out to all provincial government departments.

Source: News 24 May 20, 2022 09:44 UTC