SITA seeks R5m from consultants

By Martin Czernowalow for SITA
Johannesburg, 16 Apr 2009

State IT Agency (SITA) chairperson Zodwa Manase is expected to testify today in the Pretoria High Court in a lawsuit against a business consultancy that purportedly owes the state-owned organisation R5 million.

The case stems back to 2005, when SITA was planning to establish the Office of the Ombudsman to probe allegations of fraud and corruption within the organisation and its tender processes.

Tedaka Business Consulting, a consultancy headed by BEE management consultant Teddy Daka, was brought in to advise and was allegedly paid R5 million for its services.

However, in court papers filed at the Pretoria High Court in 2006, SITA alleged Tedaka Business Consulting did not provide the services it promised.

But Tedaka has argued it delivered consultancy work for the project and that the payments it received were above board.

In addition to the dispute, sources close to SITA have once again pointed fingers at Manase and questioned her role in the matter, saying the work was awarded to Tedaka without issuing a tender.

At the time, Daka admitted in several media reports that his company did not tender for the contract. Instead, he said, his company was approached by Manase, who was nearing the end of her first stint as SITA chairperson, to participate in the establishment of the Office of the Ombudsman.

It is not known whether this allegation will be investigated.

Manase also came under fire earlier this year, when sources within SITA questioned her suitability to lead an organisation in light of having been convicted of late payment of employee tax. She received a 12-year suspended sentence in 2004 for failing to comply with the Income Tax Act, Act 58 of 1962, as amended.

Manase, in her capacity as CEO of audit firm Manase & Associates, was charged in the Durban Magistrate Court with, and pleaded guilty to, 12 counts of failing to pay employee tax to the South African Revenue Service.

She was sentenced to 12 months on each count, suspended for five years, on condition she repays the outstanding amount of R1.4 million - broken up into instalments of R300 000.

SITA's claim against Tedaka Business Consulting came in light of an investigation, instigated by minister of trade and industry Mandisi Mpahlwa, in 2006, into tender irregularities within the agency.

It was reported that SITA's management approached Mpahlwa to intervene after an auditor-general and internal forensic investigation found financial irregularities amounting to more than R120 million.

SITA would not comment this morning, saying the matter is sub judice. Daka could also not be reached for comment.