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Scandal rocks prison services
16/11/2006 07:37 - (SA)
Adriaan Basson and Carien du Plessis, Beeld
Johannesburg - A company with links to Commissioner Linda Mti, the outgoing prisons chief, wrote a large part of a multi-million rand security tender that was subsequently awarded to them by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS).
Sondolo IT, an "unknown player" in the IT sector which is part of the Bosasa group of companies, was last year awarded one of the biggest contracts in the history of this sector (R237 million) for the installation and maintenance of modern access control systems at 66 prisons countrywide.
An investigation by Beeld revealed:
- Employees of the Bosasa group knew of the tender long before it was advertised on February 4 2005;
- Large parts of the tender's technical specifications were written on Bosasa computers in December 2004;
- Mti and Gavin Watson, CEO of Bosasa, have a long-standing relationship since the 1980s when Mti was the commander of Mkhonto weSizwe (MK), the ANC's armed wing, and later became chairperson of the ANC in the Eastern Cape, and
- Patrick Gillingham, financial chief of the DCS, is regularly seen at Bosasa's office in Krugersdorp.
Denial
The DCS last night denied that any "external organisation" participated in the compilation of the tender document.
DCS spokesperson Manelisi Wolela said a technical committee drew up the tender specifications by "improving old specifications" with the "latest technology".
Bosasa group spokesperson Papa Leshabane, denied that his group "consults" with clients on official tender documents or that Bosasa received special treatment by the DCS.
About Gillingham's visits to Bosasa, Leshabane said a number of senior DCS and government officials have visited Bosasa "from time to time". The DCS officials did allegedly visit Bosasa to inspect the premises and receive "training and development sessions".
According to Wolela, Gillingham last visited Bosasa in October 2004 as part of a "delegation" who received training for the implementation of a catering system.
According to Beeld's sources Bosasa already knew at the end of 2004 that a tender for access control systems was going to be advertised by the DCS in the new year.
But the most damning proof of wangling on a high level between the DCS and Bosasa, prior to the tender being advertised, is a 28-page document in Beeld's possession containing technical specifications for the tender.
A forensic investigation was done into this document, which showed that the document was created on December 17 2004 on a Bosasa computer - almost two months before the tender was officially advertised.
Mti resigned last week
Professor Basie von Solms, head of the University of Johannesburg's academy for information technology, compared the Bosasa document with the official tender specifications and found that almost 33% of the technical specifications for the tender were "either taken directly (word for word) or agreed very closely" with the Bosasa document.
The awarding of this and other multi-million rand tenders by the DCS to Bosasa companies has been in the news since Beeld revealed Mti's link to Bosasa six months ago.
Apart from his relationship of many years' standing with Watson, the prisons chief is also a director of a private company - Lianorah Investment Consultancy - which was registered for him by Tony Perry, Bosasa's group secretary.
According to the registrar of companies' records Lianorah is in the process of being deregistered.
The special investigative unit (the Cobras) recently launched an investigation into the awarding of the Bosasa-tenders and others contracts by the DCS.
Mti's resignation was last week accepted by cabinet.
Mti has always denied any impropriety.
- Beeld
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