United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa on Monday asked Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana to investigate the ”questions and allegations” around Gijima Info Technologies Africa.
In a letter to Mushwana, he said the company was reported to have successfully bid for government and parastatal IT tenders worth R1,9-billion.
”A major tender prerequisite is that the bidder must supply a tax clearance certificate, which certifies that the tenderer is fully compliant with the SA Revenue Services (Sars).
”It has now emerged, according to the Financial Mail (of) April 4, 2003… that Gijima is in tax arrears since June 2000 and owes SARS more than R2-million.
”Hence the company does not comply with the explicit tender requirements for the bids that it won,” Holomisa said.
The Financial Mail (FM) article says its ”investigation” of Gijima uncovered evidence that it used ”underhand tactics to secure IT tenders, including the use of false documents”, and misled those who made decisions on tenders.
”The FM has established that Gijima has been in tax arrears, in some cases since June 2000, on its income tax, Vat, PAYE, and skills development levies. The FM has learnt that Sars has initiated legal steps against Gijima.”
According to the article, the company owed more than R2-million in back taxes, interest and penalties.
In his letter to Mushwana, Holomisa said that given the sums involved, the clear need to protect the interest of the public, and the fact that government could not be expected to investigate itself, he was requesting Mushwana’s office to immediately investigate the matter.
The scope for abusing taxpayer money through awarding government and parastatal tenders to bidders who did not qualify was immense, he said.
Despite vast sums of taxpayer money potentially at risk of abuse in tender processes, these bids were mostly far removed from the public eye and proper scrutiny, Holomisa said in his letter. – Sapa