R3.4 Billion in Official Travel Contracts for One Company

Statement by Horatio Hendricks MPL – DA Shadow MEC for Education:

The Eastern Cape government must explain how one company, Khumzi Investments, can secure more than R3.4 billion in official travel and accommodation contracts over five financial years, while qualifying learners are excluded from scholar transport because there is supposedly not enough money.

In response to parliamentary questions from the Democratic Alliance (DA), Education MEC Fundile Gade said Khumzi Investments was one of four companies that had secured travel and accommodation contracts with his department, through a competitive bidding process and proper procurement procedures.

The DA will refer the Khumzi contracts and payment records to the Standing Committee of Public Accounts (SCOPA) for a full financial and value-for-money investigation. We will also request the Premier and Provincial Treasury to urgently review provincial spending on official travel and accommodation, with savings redirected through the appropriate budget process to scholar transport.

In the response, Education MEC Fundile Gade confirmed that the value of the Khumzi Investments contracts for travel and accommodation increased from R211.8 million in 2021/22 to R430 million in 2022/23, R685.7 million in 2023/24, R917 million in 2024/25, and R1.17 billion in 2025/26.

Contracts worth an additional R342.9 million for Learning and Teaching Support Material (LTSM), and R194.3 million for technical equipment were also awarded to Khumzi Investments over the same period, bringing the total value of contracts reflected in the Department’s response to more than R3.95 billion.

Supporting payment documentation supplied separately records 1,317 payment authorisations to Khumzi Investments totalling R336.6 million during 2025. This includes R21.7 million authorised between January and March 2025, and a further R314.9 million between April and November.

These figures demand scrutiny when set against the province’s treatment of scholar transport.

Hundreds of thousands of qualifying learners are still not being provided scholar transport due to the programme being significantly underfunded. Scholar transport is critical for poor and rural learners, who have no other means of getting to school.

SCOPA must establish whether the Department received value for the billions of rands in contracts awarded to Khumzi Investments, reconcile the contract values against actual payments, and determine whether every payment was properly supported by goods or services delivered.

The Eastern Cape government must explain how one company secured contracts worth more than R3.95 billion from the Department of Education while the province continues to tell qualifying learners that there is insufficient funding to transport them to school.