It seems that Sentech has either not built, or not commissioned, the second teleport that was part of the guarantees underwritten by the South African government for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup.
While Sentech has side-stepped directly answering questions related to the status of the teleport, questions are being asked about whether the signal distributor has contravened the Public Finance Management Act.
Government signed 17 guarantees as part of the country's commitment to hosting the prestigious sporting event - between June and July this year - with soccer governing body Fifa.
Among those guarantees was telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructure. This included national signal distributor Sentech building and placing into commission a teleport for the transmission of broadcasting signals overseas at the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC), located at Nasrec, in Johannesburg.
Three hundred million rand was budgeted for the total cost of the ICT infrastructure for the event.
Telkom was commissioned to install telecommunications landlines and other infrastructure to the stadiums and ensure that connectivity to the undersea cables was maintained. The telecommunications utility met all the requirements that it committed to.
Sentech, which is wholly owned by government and is considered a company of national strategic importance, already owns and operates one satellite, or teleport. However, a second was considered by Fifa and its subsidiary Host Broadcasting Services, to be necessary as a backup, should anything go wrong with either the first teleport or any of the undersea cables.
Last month, the Portfolio Committee on Communications unceremoniously dismissed Sentech from Parliament because it had failed to lodge its presentation ahead of time so the members could study it.
Disaster answer
In the presentation, which was still tabled before Parliament, even though it was not presented, Sentech said it has yet to “operationalise” the teleport at Nasrec.
Questions put to Sentech by ITWeb drew the following response: “Sentech built the Nasrec Teleport as part of 2010 WCS guarantees. Sentech is busy with the preparatory work to use this facility and equip it as a disaster recovery site for Sentech's business.”
The company did not answer any of the related questions, such as whether the teleport was still being built, when it was due to be commissioned, who was building it and who was supplying the equipment for it.
Just before the start of the World Cup, members of the communications committee were shown around the IBC and the satellite farm was pointed out to them. However, it is not known if this was the actual teleport that Sentech was supposed to have built.
“In his budget vote speech, communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda thanked Telkom and Sentech for the infrastructure they put in place for the World Cup. It seems now he must retract his gratitude to Sentech,” a source close to the Department of Communications says.
The source, who wishes not to be named, says if Sentech did not actually build and commission the teleport and is now using the facility for another purpose, it could be a contravention of the Public Finance Management Act.
“That law is very strict that public monies should be used for the purposes intended or returned to the National Treasury if not,” the source says.
Niekie van den Berg, Democratic Alliance deputy communications shadow minister, says: “If this is true, it would be a scandalous misuse of public money and trust.”
Van den Berg says he will be putting questions to Nyanda about the issue.
“Sentech has been an absolute disaster. We need them to explain what is going on,” he says.
Ismail Vadi (ANC), communications committee chairperson, refuses to comment directly on the issue, but says: “We, as the committee, are extremely concerned about Sentech. We are still finalising a date for them to come present to us and answer a range of questions.”
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