A DODGY multi-million rand tender for a TV series on HIV/Aids on the SABC has pitted Northern Cape premier Sylvia Lucas against her department of health.

Sowetan can reveal that Lucas's office issued a R11-million tender for a television campaign without following tender processes despite objections from health MEC Mac Jack. This happened days after officials from Jack's office raised serious concerns with the funding of the project, saying it was irregular.

A Nation at Work, scheduled to start this month, is a 30-minute TV programme showcasing Lucas and officials of her government explaining their efforts to combat HIV/Aids in nine episodes on SABC2.

But documents show that the department allocated the "excessive" money, that was not budgeted for, despite the fact that it was in "a deep financial crisis".

The allocation was R6-million more than what is approved under the HIV/Aids grant, which is meant for communication, advocacy and mobilisation against HIV/Aids.

The tender was awarded last December to a company called Cultuphase, owned by high-flying couple Nhlanhla and Denise Dakile.

The couple's other company, Media Corner, is being sued by the Special Investigating Unit for nearly R13-million for allegedly irregularly depositing cash into a personal account of an assistant of a member of the tender committee of the department of telecommunications and postal services.

The department funded the project - without following the procurement rules - while Lucas's office put in place a flawed tender process that resulted in the tender not being advertised.

In terms of Treasury regulations, tenders above R500000 should be put to a competitive bid.

In early December, Phyllis Pholoholo, acting chief director of health programmes, apologised to Jack for allocating the R11-million taken from the HIV/Aids grant for the TV series, saying she only realised late that there were "gross irregularities" in the process.

"I was never provided with full information regarding the nature of the proposed transaction, nor the procurement process presumably followed by the office of the premier," she said in a letter to Jack.

The acting chief financial officer, Pheelo Ngcobothi, said he had warned that the project would constitute irregular expenditure in terms of Treasury regulations and that the national department of health had not been consulted on the matter.

Department of health spokesman Lebo Majaha referred questions to Lucas' spokesperson Bronwyn Thomas-Abrahams, who denied the province had awarded the tender.

But a letter of appointment to the company, dated December 27, written by Lucas's director general Justice Bekebeke, reads: "After complying with the relevant supply chain management due process, you are hereby appointed to perform Nation@work TV series on SABC as per your proposal."

For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays