When schools reopened in June 2020 the Gauteng Department of Education embarked on "deep cleaning and decontamination" of its buildings. Over three months it made about 947 payments of around R250,000 each — kept under the threshold that would have required a competitive process — totalling R431.3 million, to firms mostly without cleaning experience; 173 of them were not registered on the Central Supplier Database. The national Department of Health had advised that fogging was unnecessary. MEC Panyaza Lesufi: "I was and I am still not aware of that cost."
The SIU found the procurement "haphazard and unfair" with supply-chain management bypassed, froze R40.7 million and referred three chief directors and directors for discipline; they were dismissed. On 10 February 2022 the Special Tribunal (Modiba J) declared all 180 contracts unconstitutional and invalid and ordered every contractor to disgorge its profits, finding that the reasonable cost of the work actually done was R6.1 million — 1.4% of what was paid. It was the first mass set-aside of COVID contracts in a single judgment. In May 2026 the SIU announced a R25 million settlement with the Chachulani group and linked trusts; one criminal case is pending. Lesufi later called it "one chapter of the department that still hurts me".