Ex-state employee gets five years for Digital Vibes corruption; key players yet to face prosecution

Lizeka Tonjeni (49), a former senior Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (Misa) official, is the first person to be sentenced on corruption charges relating to payments received from Digital Vibes, the company at the centre of a shady R150-million Department of Health (DoH) contract.

On Friday, 27 September, Tonjeni was sentenced to five years imprisonment for corruption relating to awarding Digital Vibes a contract of almost R4-million in 2018.

Tonjeni accepted R160,000 in bribes from Digital Vibes’ de facto boss, Tahera Mather, between December 2018 and August 2020 while she was a project manager at Misa.

Tonjeni told the court the payments from Mather were for weight loss and energy booster products she was selling, as well as loans for a farming business. She claimed she still owed Mather R85,000.

The court dismissed these claims.

Read more: Bit players in Digital Vibes scandal on the hook while the big fish swim free

Mather featured in the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU’s) damning findings against former health minister Zweli Mkhize and top DoH officials in connection with the Digital Vibes transaction.

Digital Vibes won the Misa contract a year before being awarded the R150-million DoH contract in November 2019. Mkhize allegedly directly influenced the DoH’s decision to award the contract to Digital Vibes.

He and his family allegedly benefited financially from the deal, the SIU’s report into the matter found.

Read more: Released: Damning SIU report finds at least R72m fruitless and wasted, implicates Mkhize, DoH officials in Digital Vibes contract

Tonjeni’s ‘greed’

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said that Tonjeni had asked the court to impose a non-custodial sentence of correctional supervision because she has a minor child to take care of.

Mahanjana said: “The prosecutors asked for a sentence of direct imprisonment because Tonjeni committed a serious offence of corruption, that is widespread on the part of state functionaries — which has become endemic in South Africa — and she committed the offence over a period of time and caused reputational damage to Misa.

“Handing down the sentence, the magistrate, Nicole Setshoge, said corrupt activities have become a pandemic in the country, especially in parastatals and procurement. This case was a classic example of that.

“Tonjeni committed the offence to feed her greed. Therefore, Setshoge found that the mitigating factors were overwhelmed by the aggravating factors.”

Other roleplayers

The SIU wants to recoup funds from the R150-million contract from several people involved, including Mather and her colleague at Digital Vibes, Naadira Mitha. It is also targeting Mkhize and Welcome Mthethwa, who allegedly run a company that distributed the proceeds of the contract.

Read more: Special Investigating Unit aims to recover R150m from alleged roleplayers in Digital Vibes scandal

In her decision on the SIU’s joinder application to recoup the funds, Special Tribunal Judge Lebogang Modiba said, “Soon after its appointment by the National Department of Health, Digital Vibes allegedly appointed Mather and Naadhira Mitha as consultants on the NHI contract.

“The SIU alleges that its investigation revealed that although in law Digital Vibes belongs to a Radha Hariram, she allowed Mather and Mitha to run Digital Vibes’ business in respect of the impugned contracts, thus using it as a fronting company to disguise Mather and Mitha’s involvement in the impugned contracts.”

In April 2022, the SIU was given the go-ahead to join five additional respondents in its legal bid to recover allegedly corrupt proceeds stemming from the Digital Vibes contract.

Read more: SIU gets go-ahead to seek nearly R5m from Mkhize family

The Special Tribunal has ruled that the SIU may seek to recover nearly R5-million from Mkhize’s daughter-in-law and from entities owned by his wife, Dr May Mkhize, and his son, Dedani.

Daily Maverick asked the NPA’s Mahanjana how far investigations against those implicated in the Digital Vibes scandal had progressed and when the case would be ready for trial.

On Monday, Mahanjana replied, “The NPA does not comment on investigations.”

The only other case involving Digital Vibes currently in court is that of Popo Maja, the DoH’s former director of communications. He is waiting to receive his pension when he retires at the end of October so that he can pay lawyers to defend him.

This matter will be heard again on 29 November. Maja was arrested in June 2023 and charged with two counts of corruption for his alleged role in awarding the R150-million contract to provide communication services to the DoH for the National Health Insurance programme. DM