President Thabo Mbeki's political advisor, Titus Mafolo, has been confirmed as a significant shareholder in Sondolo IT, which won a R237 million tender from the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), and is now shrouded in corruption allegations.
National newspapers Die Beeld and Die Burger recently "revealed" how Sondolo IT, part of the Bosasa Group, wrote large parts of the surveillance security tender document.
Online site News24 this morning linked Mafolo, along with a handful of other high-profile politicians or people with strong political links, to the tender scandal, saying they own shares in the local ICT company.
Bosasa spokesman Papa Leshabane says Mafolo has interests in Sondolo, through Bancar Investment Holdings, which is a 25% shareholder in Sondolo.
Legitimate
However, one of the company's investors and directors, Hamilton Ratshefola, says the tender was awarded legitimately.
Ratshefola, also CE of Cornastone, has interests in Sondolo through a private capital investment firm. He explains Bosasa has worked with the DCS in many different projects, building and maintaining facilities, and it is thus logical for its Sondolo IT arm to know the technology requirements.
"It looks like something is irregular, but the guys [Sondolo] just have an advantage over the rest. If [it emerges that] there's corruption, we will walk away from them," he says.
Surveillance
The tender was awarded on 17 March, notes Leshabane, adding that it was for the supply, delivery, installation, commissioning, support and maintenance of television systems and monitors with CCTV coverage.
"It covers the DCS's staff and inmates at 66 maximum security facilities and centres of excellence," he says.
Leshabane denies Sondolo IT had any part to play in the design of the tender document, as has been alleged.
The contract is quite sizeable for a company that, estimates Ratshefola, has had a total annual turnover of between R80 million and R100 million. The Johannesburg Black Suppliers Database estimates the company's turnover to be about R5 million.
Share