While trade and industry minister Rob Davies wants the solution to the Cipro tender controversy to be procedurally correct, his Democratic Alliance counterpart Andricus van der Westhuizen says it smacks of a cover-up.
Late last week, the Auditor General of SA (AGSA) released its report concerning the awarding of a R153 million tender to install an enterprise content management system at the Companies and Intellectual Registration Office (Cipro). The report raised a series of questions about just how the deal was awarded to a small and relatively unknown IT company, called Valor IT.
AGSA questioned the role of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as Cipro's accounting office, and also found that the State IT Agency had not been procedurally correct in its own evaluation of the tender, and its placing of Valor IT on its preferred supplier database.
Davies made it very clear on Friday that the work on implementing the system would continue, but his department had completed its own investigation and was now preparing to present to Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), on 18 May.
“We want to get this episode behind us as soon as possible. Cipro must regain its integrity and its efficiency as soon as possible, as there will be new pressures on it when it becomes a commission in terms of the Companies Act,” Davies said.
He said there were different investigations around the Cipro tender, including that being conducted by the police, the DTI, AGSA and the Department of Public Service and Administration, because of SITA's involvement.
“All these different investigations have different needs,” he said.
However, Davies also said the DTI's own investigation “now had sufficient basis to be passed on for legal actions”.
But he added that his department would not be laying criminal charges yet, as that was the role of the law enforcement agencies.
Acting Cipro CEO Lungile Dukwana said the enterprise content management system would be built and deployed in three phases, but that no final date for its 'operationalisation' had been announced yet.
The first phase was the development of a new Web site, the second would focus on company registrations and the third would be focused on registration of intellectual property.
Van der Westhuizen said after Friday's press conference that he was disappointed by Davies. “I believe that he should be taking a far stronger stance and really be trying to get to the cause of the situation at Cipro - after all, this organisation is the 'home affairs' for companies.”
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