The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has postponed the case against the National Department of Health Senior official, Joseph Themba Popo Maja, 63, to February 13, 2024 for a trial date.
National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson, Pretoria division, Lumka Mahanjana, said Maja is facing two counts of corruption worth R15 000.
“It is alleged that in 2019 Maja was appointed as a member of the Bid Specification and Bid Evaluation Committee. The committee was tasked to appoint a service provider to provide communication services in relation to the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill.
“It is alleged that on 1 November 2019, the bid evaluation committee members set to evaluate bidders for functional and technical evaluation after Digital Vibes was recommended to be contracted the bid amount of over R141 million for a period of 12 months,” added Mahanjana.
On the same day the committee sat, it is alleged that an amount of R10 000 was paid into Maja’s personal bank account, from the Digital Vibes bank account.
“A month later, on 5 December 2019, an amount of R5 000 was paid again to his personal account by Digital Vibes.”
“During his court appearance and through his attorney, he asked for a bail condition where he is supposed to report to the investigating officer every time he leaves Gauteng province to be relaxed. The application was granted by the court, however, all other conditions are still applicable,” said Mahanjana.