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eNatis project manager promoted
25/05/2007 09:17 - (SA)
Cobus Coetzee, Beeld
Johannesburg - The project manager of eNatis was promoted recently, in spite of a report by the Auditor-General (AG), who found he was not qualified to take key technical decisions in the eNatis project.
Werner Koekemoer was appointed director of traffic information systems in the national Department of Transport on April 1, barely two months after the damning report was handed to the department by the AG.
Beeld has a copy of the final report by the AG, stating that Koekemoer and two other highly placed people in the department had taken decisions that impacted on the technical, operational structure of eNatis.
The two other people named by the AG were Wendy Watson, former chief director of land transport regulation, and Jerry Mokokoena, former operational chief of the department.
Watson left the department shortly after the preliminary AG report appeared in December, while Mokokoena resigned a few days after the report had been handed to the department on February 2.
Koekemoer, Watson and Mokokoena comprised the group that took decisions on the eNatis project - the group which according to the AG report did not have the competence or qualifications to do so.
'Enormous influence'
"The project manager (Koekemoer) fulfilled many tasks, such as financial manager, software development regulator, and mediator between the department and Tasima (the consortium that developed eNatis) which gave him enormous influence," the report said.
The AG also said that neither of the two permanent officials appointed by the department to work on eNatis had the required theoretical qualifications.
Before his appointment as a director, Koekemoer was the assistant director tasked with eNatis.
Koekemoer phoned Beeld on Thursday to find out how the newspaper had acquired a copy of the AG's report.
He confirmed that he had been appointed to the new position and said he was just concerned about what Beeld would publish.
"I hope you do not publish anything that will undermine the security of the system," he said. Koekemoer denied that he had seen a copy of the report.
Unauthorised changes
According to the AG, various unauthorised changes had been made at the start of the eNatis project by various unqualified staff members in the department.
This had led to some serious consequences:
Over-expenditure of more than R25m, R15.5m of which was on the Oracle licence and R10m for the construction of the eNatis office and computer centre at Midrand.
Extension of a tender contract, which cost taxpayers an additional R90m.
Revision of benchmarks, which led to the eNatis project being delayed.
The report emphasised that over-expenditure on eNatis topped out at R117.6m, or 28% more than the original estimate.
The AG ascribed the overspending to unauthorised and inadequate project management, staff exceeding their powers and inaccurate data having been given to tendering parties, during the tender process.
Neither Jeff Radebe's spokesperson, Collen Msibi, nor the departmental spokesperson, Sam Monareng could state after a full week of enquiries why Koekemoer, Watson and Mokokoena had been appointed to their posts, or what their qualifications were.
Koekemoer, Watson and Mokokoena could also not be reached for comment on Thursday evening.
- Beeld
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