/ 27 August 2009

Row over fishy contract

Judicial Service Commission advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza and Cosatu’s row over a controversial contract with the Department of Environmental Affairs has taken a new turn, with allegations that Ntsebeza is trying to embarrass Cosatu into backing down.

Cosatu has agreed that dispute settlement company Equilore could go ahead with the contract, even though Western Cape general secretary Tony Ehrenreich still insisted that there was a clear ‘conflict of interest” on the part of Equilore.

Cosatu had earlier this month questioned the involvement of Equilore and its chairperson Ntsebeza in a R250 000 contract awarded to the company in April.

The environmental department had appointed Equilore to help mediate between a task team working on the rights of small-scale fishermen and Marine and Coastal Management (MCM).

Ehrenreich told the Mail & Guardian that Cosatu did not back down, but that the union felt Equilore would simply mediate and not make any binding recommendations, which neutralised the conflict of interest.

Cosatu had demanded that Equilore withdraw from the contract, because Ntsebeza had for several years been a director of the Offshore Fishing Company and also indirectly held significant rights in the South African fishing industry, including one in the small-scale fisheries sector. Cosatu said Ntsebeza’s interests raised questions, because Equilore would be mediating between MCM and the small-scale fishing industry.

Ntsebeza told the M&G that Equilore had withdrawn from the contract as a result of the controversy, because there was now a ‘perceived conflict of interest”.

Leading the charges against Equilore was Ehrenreich and head of Cosatu’s fisheries desk Gary Simpson, who questioned the lack of transparency in the contract. The contract was not put out to tender, because it was worth less then R500 000.

This week Ntsebeza hit back at Cosatu. In an email he accused the union of double standards, saying Cosatu’s owned a 30% share in the Offshore Fishing Company.

‘The irony of this all, of course, is that whereas I declared my interest in Offshore Fishing, via my shareholding in Sizwe Fishing Company (Pty) Ltd, in an open session, I do not know that Gary [Simpson] made a similar declaration about Cosatu’s majority shareholding in the same fishing company, through Cosatu’s investment company, Kopano Ke Matla (KKM), in an open session, or anywhere at all,” he wrote in the email sent to the Department of Environmental Affairs, Equilore and Cosatu.

‘Strange, but true!” he said.

Kopano Ke Matla Investment Company (Pty) Ltd was established in 1996 by the Kopano Ke Matla Trust, whose sole beneficiary is Cosatu.

Simpson, told the M&G that Cosatu was not the company looking for a R250 000 contract and that their fishing stake was irrelevant.

Ntsebeza said he did not want to respond to an email, because it was not sent to the media.

Cosatu have also written to Public Protector to complain about the lack of transparency in the appointment of Equilore.