Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube has distanced herself from the newly formed Lighthouse Publishers that was awarded the share of R285 million in the R1.6 billion textbook contract despite being with no prior publishing history.
Gwarube said she does not know the owners of Lighthouse Publishers, which won a portion of the tender after it was established days after the tender terms were issued.
“I have no relationship with the company or its owners, and nor have I ever engaged with them,” she said when she responded during the question-and-answer session in the National Assembly.
EFF MP Mandla Shikwambana asked in the main question who had approved the redesign of the textbook catalogue model.
Gwarube said procurement processes and related administrative approvals all fall under the authority of director-general Matanzima Mweli.
“I am not consulted on, nor do I approve the redesign of the catalogue model. I don’t instruct any specific outcome in relation to any publisher or supplier, and I do not approve any allocation to work to Lighthouse Publishers or any publisher for that matter,” she said when pleading her innocence.
The minister said the controversial tender raised serious legal and governance and procurement reputational risk.
“I have required that the full process be subjected to proper scrutiny. There is an internal audit process that is being concluded.”
Gwarube further said that there is an independent investigation that is being conducted urgently by an external law firm so that the integrity of the process can be properly tested.
“Until those processes are complete, it would be inappropriate of me to make conclusive assertions about any wrongdoing. But it would also be inappropriate of me to treat the matter as closed, before the relevant records approval and legal basis of the procurement have been properly tested,” the minister added.
Pressed by EFF MP Eugene Mthethwa whether due diligence was done before the contract was awarded to Lighthouse Publishers, Gwarube said she was not responsible for the Public Finance Management Act in any way.
“When the department allocates a contract to any publisher, I’m not involved. But what the Public Finance Management Act does say is that, should there be a problem or suspicion of wrongdoing, I must exercise my oversight responsibilities,” she said.
The minister added that should any irregularity be found and any of the officials in the department found to have done any wrongdoing, she would act and hold people accountable.
According to Gwarube, when the irregular textbook contract was exposed, she had requested the National Treasury to investigate, but it had needed to do a deeper investigation and more time to undertake the probe.
“They were not confident that they would meet the timelines that we needed,” she said.
Gwarube further said it was on that basis that she decided to appoint an independent law firm that would have capacity to have the turnaround time the department needed as they did not want to delay the delivery of textbooks for the 2027 academic year.
The minister was asked when she became aware of the irregularities in the tender and what action she had taken before the matter was reported in the media.
She told the MPs that she became aware of the issue simultaneously when one whistleblower made the allegations in 2025 and she ordered an investigation that found nothing untoward.
“When I became aware of the process being faulty or to be said to be faulty, it was when whistleblowers raised the issue with me, but at the same time, those whistleblowers approached the press.”
The minister added that upon contacting the National Treasury, she was alerted that there was a deviation in the procurement process, but they were not entirely sure that that deviation was in fact correct.
