Subscribe

Backlash over Free State Web site

Nicola Mawson
By Nicola Mawson, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 05 Mar 2013
South Africans were outraged at the reported cost of the site and comments went viral that it was based on a WordPress theme.
South Africans were outraged at the reported cost of the site and comments went viral that it was based on a WordPress theme.

South Africans are outraged at news that the Free State provincial government forked out R140 million for a Web site that seems to have been built on an outdated WordPress theme, which can be downloaded for $40.

The news of the cost of the site has gone viral and the Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for a probe from the auditor-general's office into the cost, at a time when government is clamping down on over-expenditure and corruption.

However, the province points out that the contract was awarded to a consortium and covers 38 provincial Web sites, as well as a social media campaign. The three-year deal also has a second phase that will incorporate community radio.

Responding to questions from ITWeb, Mondli Mvambi, director of media strategy and liaison in the Department of the Premier, says the cost during the 2011/12 financial year amounted to about R24 million, while the current financial year cost is around R23.8 million, a total of R47.8 million.

Costs are shared between the Department of the Premier and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, says Mvambi.

Costly site?

Yesterday, the Sowetan reported that premier Ace Magashule hired businessman Tumi Ntsele to build what the DA says is the "most expensive Web site in the history of SA". Ntsele heads up a company called Letlaka.

The Sowetan reported Free State DG Elzabe Rockman signed the three-year contract to redesign the Web site in 2011. She reportedly disputed the amount, arguing it was actually R40 million.

However, Rockman says the contract was not for just one site, but for 38, and included other aspects such as a social media campaign. In addition, she says, the deal includes hosting and security from the State IT Agency (SITA).

The Free State provincial site went down yesterday after reports that it cost R140 million to design.
The Free State provincial site went down yesterday after reports that it cost R140 million to design.

The paper says the agreement was signed with Ntsele, who reportedly holds tenders with several other provincial departments, the paper wrote. It was reported that the company was awarded the tender even though two other companies submitted significantly lower bids.

Letlaka Media and Communications this morning refused to comment, referring ITWeb to the Free State provincial government. The company's only available contact details are listed on its Facebook page, as it does not seem to have a Web site, or an entry in the Yellow Pages.

On its Facebook page, it lists its investments as Cherry Online Design, The Weekly, Letlaka Investments and Letlaka Media. Cherry Online is the "power" behind the official Free State provincial site, according to a note at the bottom of the page.

However, while cherryonline.co has been registered by Afrihost, the site is not up and running, with a placeholder indicating that it has been registered and is "coming soon". A whois lookup shows the registrant is Peter Meintjes, from Afrihost.

Ntsele also did not respond to a tweeted request for comment.

Proper processes

In a statement issued by Mvambi, he says the province followed a lengthy procurement process, starting in June 2011, before appointing a consortium of Cherry Ikamva Jugganaut.

Mvambi says a procurement process trimmed the number of bidders from 27 interested parties, which attended a briefing session, to 11 bidders, and then down to three before further vetting led to the appointment of the joint venture. He says several service providers were disqualified for a variety of reasons.

Twitter buzz

@chestermissing said: "140 million on a website for the Free State gov? If the site wasn't http://nkandla.com heads are gonna roll."
@MarkPilgrimZA: "WTF. Can govt stop squandering our taxpaying money. "Free Stategovt paid R40m for website which uses Wordpress: http://n24.cm/XkZGvz"
@Mabine_Seabe: "For R140-million over three years, this Free State website better transport me to Bloemfontein at the click of a button."
@JPSAorg: "So? London Live spent US$40 NO extra zeros!=>RT@SABreakingNews: Free State: We paid R40m, not R140m, for our website http://bit.ly/WF7w59."
@chrislbecker: "So the company paid R140 million to design Free State Govt website, doesn't even have a website themselves. http://www.cherryonline.co/."
@BTrovato: "R40-million for a website based on a template that costs $40 to download. Nice one, Free State. Too early to start drinking?"
LeanneManas: "The R140 million Freestate government website. Really? Is that even remotely possible??"

"The tender award for a three-year period was published in the Provincial Tender Bulletin of 24 February 2012 in compliance with the relevant Treasury Instruction Note," says Mvambi.

Wide scope

Mvambi says the project has brought online new Web sites of provincial departments, which will be followed by municipalities and provincial public entities. In total, 38 re-engineered Web sites form part of the project, he says.

The provincial government's use of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are also included in the project scope, says Mvambi. The 38 Web sites include those of the 11 provincial departments, three provincial public entities and 24 municipalities in the province, he adds.

Mvambi says the Cherry Online-Ikamva-Jugganaut consortium, in association with various community radio stations, was appointed to deal with issues such as design, research, content development and generation during the first phase of the project.

The second phase will bring community radio stations on board with continuous content development, updates of news and activities, as well as broadcasting content, says Mvambi. "The emphasis of the project focuses extensively on content generation, management and updates, as well as the broadcasting of news relating to government programmes and activities."

The social media aspect has been live and active since July 2012, while provincial sites went live in October, says Mvambi. Municipal sites will go live as and when existing contracts terminate and municipalities transfer to the integrated project, he adds.

Mvambi explains there is no cost for hosting, maintenance and update of sites that are not yet live. Technical challenges experienced by SITA with regard to the hosting of the integrated Web sites have delayed this phase of the project and are in the process of being resolved, he adds.

SITA was engaged to advise on the technical details of the bids and to receive a proposal from SITA regarding the hosting of the new integrated Web site, says Mvambi. A service level agreement for hosting the integrated Web sites was subsequently concluded with SITA, he adds.

Outrage

This is not the first time the cost of a government site has come under scrutiny, as in 2009, ITWeb revealed that Durban spent R6.5 million on its official 2010 Web site. At the time, head of Durban's strategic projects unit, Julie-May Ellingson, said while the cost may have been high, it was a "platform to showcase the city and its 2010 developments to the rest of the world" and fell within the city's budget.

During this year's budget speech, finance minister Pravin Gordhan reminded Parliament that SA will continually endeavour to increase the value that government receives for the money it spends. "Let me be frank. This is a difficult task with too many points of resistance!"

Gordhan said procurement takes place at too many localities and contracts are short term. "Consequently, there are hundreds of thousands of transactions from a multitude of centres... While our ablest civil servants have had great difficulty in optimising procurement, it has yielded rich pickings for those who seek to exploit it."

However, the state is making progress and Gordhan said the process of setting up the chief procurement office in Treasury has begun "in earnest" and the name of a chief procurement officer will soon be announced.

In reaction to the initial news of the Free State site, Swift Consulting CEO and tech blogger Liron Segev wrote that the source code of the site shows it was created by software that generates WordPress themes.

To read the province's full response, click here.

Share