The East Rand metropolitan of Ekurhuleni has called in the authorities, after a forensic audit revealed discrepancies in an ICT tender.
City manager Khaya Ngema says the metropolitan called in risk management company Aurco earlier this year to investigate when it became aware of tender irregularities and other issues within its ICT department, including alleged fraud in the awarding of a contract.
The matter has since been handed over to law enforcement authorities, who are investigating. The city could not say which authorities were investigating, or what they were specifically looking into.
The Aurco report uncovered that the metro had overspent by almost R100 million on a tender that was fatally flawed, reports the Citizen. In addition, it found that at least two staff members were silent partners in subsidiaries of the winning company, TCM. TCM won the tender, beating IBM as the city's ICT supplier.
Investigators uncovered there was alleged collusion and corruption involved in the tender award. The Citizen reports that the staff members are silent partners in TCM subsidiaries Meropa, Ndabuko and Saimax.
TCM was not available for comment, but a press release on its Web site says it won the tender to implement a Cisco next-generation network. It was allocated turnkey service provider status.
The ICT company was also set to provide e-services that would allow Ekurhuleni citizens to access remote clinics, digital villages and online bill payments.
Ngema says: “As a metro, we have now handed over the matter to the relevant law enforcement agencies and we are confident they will get to the bottom of this investigation.
“We will, at an appropriate time, communicate the outcome of the investigation to the public. We are confident the investigation will be speeded up and given the necessary attention.”
Meanwhile, public relations consultancy Meropa Communications says it is not the “Meropa” allegedly involved in the tender discrepancies in the Ekurhuleni metro. “Unfortunately, there are 55 South African-registered companies with Meropa in their name, “says CE Peter Mann. “These allegations are being made about an ICT company called Meropa – and it is certainly not us.”
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