Two years ago the office of the premier in the Eastern Cape bought a video conferencing unit worth about R1-million – but it has never been used.

Premier Phumulo Masualle’s office said there would be an investigation into how more than R970 000 was paid for a video conference system that is not functional.

The administration head in Masualle’s office‚ director-general Marion Mbina-Mthembu‚ told the Bhisho legislature this week that the forensic investigation was instituted after the system‚ supplied by Dimension Data at a cost of R970 232‚ “could not be verified” and was non-functional.

The system was installed in the officer of the premier’s tele-media room in October 2014‚ but has been giving officials headaches ever since.

According to a Dimension Data report compiled in March‚ the premier’s office was warned from the start about difficulties that would render the system unusable‚ but the office ignored the warnings and refused to buy additional items needed for the system to work.

Addressing the legislature’s portfolio committee on the office of the premier on Tuesday‚ Mbina-Mthembu said the system was not doing what it was supposed to do for the amount paid.

These revelations come just months after the same office installed a non-functional telephone system‚ which cut the province’s nerve centre off from the outside world. – Daily Dispatch