Digital Vibes, Ithuba, National Lottery Operator, Tammy Taylor South Africa, Spin Wizards, tender scandal, Department of health, SAPS, former health minister Zweli Mkhize, Tahera Mather

Ithuba Holdings, SA’s national lottery operator, is the latest company to be implicated in the Digital Vibes tender scandal. Photo: GCIS and Casino Connection / Flickr

Ithuba Holdings IMPLICATED in Digital Vibes scandal – new report

SA’s National Lottery operator Ithuba Holdings was recently implicated in the Digital Vibes tender scandal – here’s why…

Digital Vibes, Ithuba, National Lottery Operator, Tammy Taylor South Africa, Spin Wizards, tender scandal, Department of health, SAPS, former health minister Zweli Mkhize, Tahera Mather

Ithuba Holdings, SA’s national lottery operator, is the latest company to be implicated in the Digital Vibes tender scandal. Photo: GCIS and Casino Connection / Flickr

South Africa’s National Lottery operator Ithuba Holdings has been implicated in the Digital Vibes tender scandal.

In May 2020, Ithuba Holdings donated 100 000 reusable face masks to the Department of Health (DoH) and the South African Police Service (SAPS).

The alleged scheme

According to Scorpio’s investigation, on 6 April 2020, Dr Anban Pillay reportedly sent a message to the founder of Tammy Taylor South Africa, Melany Viljoen. Anban asked Viljoen what their prices were for a ‘basic mask’ he followed up on 8 April by requesting that Vijoen send him a formal quote over email.

Tammy Taylor SA sent the quote but didn’t hear back from Pillay. They were then contacted by Tahera Mather, one of the masterminds behind the Digital Vibes deal. Mather said they wanted to order the masks on behalf of the DoH. 

She accepted a quote of R5 175 000 for 100 000 masks. An invoice was emailed to Mather on 23 April. Just a week before this, Digital Vibes received almost R8 million from the DoH. The day after they received the invoice, Digital Vibes transferred R1 million to Tammy Taylor SA.

These were followed by payments on 28 April and 12 May of R2.4 million and R1.775 million. 

How did the masks get to the National Lottery operator?

Before the televised 7 May handover ceremony at Ithuba’s offices, the masks were delivered to Mkhize’s residence in Pretoria. Many aspects of this scenario are uncertain, including whether the masks were handed to DoH and SAPS members from the ministerial residence.

What is known is that Ithuba paid R5.9 million for the masks. This is R725 000 more than Digital Vibes paid Tammy Taylor for the 100 000 face masks. However, Ithuba didn’t buy the masks from Digital Vibes. Ithuba purchased the masks from a company called Spin Wizards.

This means there were two payments: Digital Vibes paid Tammy Taylor using DoH money and Ithuba paid Spin Wizards.

“In a sense, Ithuba was reimbursing Spin Wizards for masks that Digital Vibes had bought with DoH funds,”

Scorpio’s report read.
Ithuba stated that Spin Wizards was a random mask supplier. Photo: Stock Image / Pixabay

So what does Ithuba Holdings have to do with Digital Vibes?

Scorpio’s investigation shows that the money eventually found its way into businesses owned by associates of the former Health Minister. This includes his son Dedani and former personal assistant Mather.

Spin Wizards is reportedly ‘intimately’ linked to Mateta Projects. Mateta Projects is one of the entities involved in the Digital Vibes saga. Mateta paid a small salary to Spin Wizards’ sole director Mavis Ndlovu throughout 2020.

“It seemed likely that Spin Wizards was a front entity that had been set up to funnel funds to the main role players involved in the Digital Vibes affair,”

the investigation revealed.

Ithuba stated that Spin Wizards was just a random supplier of face masks.

ALSO READ: Top Health Department officials face punishment for Digital Vibes scandal