Information technology company Gijima has been re-instated as the supplier of the home affairs department’s new R2,1-billion IT system after being axed almost a year ago.
Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma made the announcement in Cape Town on Monday.
The department said in a statement it had reached a settlement with the company for the Who Am I Online project.
“It is a relief for us, and I am sure for government as well, that we have finally come to an agreement,” Gijima chief executive Jonas Bogoshi was quoted as saying by website TechCentral.co.za.
Gijima and home affairs signed the deal in 2008 after the company was awarded the tender in 2007.
According to TechCentral, once completed, the project would have resulted in an overhaul of the department’s technology infrastructure, including the design, development, implementation and maintenance of its core systems. It would have linked the home affairs department’s national identification system to systems operated by the South African Police Service, the national health care service, and emergency services.
Dlamini-Zuma said the cost of the project escalated to R4,5-billion from the original R2,1-billion tender price. That, together with a lack of progress in setting it up, led to the department’s investigation of the deal and the contract being declared invalid.
‘Amicably resolve the dispute’
Although the department regarded the contract as invalid, Gijima disputed this, she said.
“Therefore, to avoid indefinite delays to the project by costly and lengthy litigation, the department entered into negotiations to amicably resolve the dispute and allow for the urgent completion of the project in line with the department’s original requirements, and in line with the original cost estimates.”
Home Affairs Director General Mkuseli Apleni said the signing of the contract took place without the Treasury’s knowledge or participation.
There was no explanation as to why the signed contract price was so much higher than the tender price.
Apleni said the department had “strong legal opinion” to support its view, but litigation would have taken between six and seven years.
Home Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said after the briefing that Apleni’s predecessor Mavuso Msimang signed the contract.
Msimang’s contract was not renewed by Dlamini-Zuma and he left the department in early 2010.
No response
Dlamini-Zuma said in terms of the new deal negotiated with Gijima, the project would now cost R2,489-billion.
The government had so far paid R391-million and Dlamini-Zuma expected the contract to be completed within the next two years.
Gijima had agreed to absorb R375-million in costs. It also agreed to provide five years of free maintenance.
A report by the Auditor General on the tender, and a forensic audit by Professor Harvey Wainer, head of the JSE’s financial reporting investigation panel, still had to be completed. Previous home affairs minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula commissioned both.
The Mail & Guardian reported in April last year that the Auditor General’s report was handed to her in February 2009, and that Wainer handed his initial report to the department after Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma became minister in 2009.
Mamoepa said in a statement on Monday: “The department expresses its conviction that this settlement paves the way for the forensic audit and the Auditor General’s report to be duly finalised and the matter brought to its logical conclusion.”
Democratic Alliance (DA) spokesperson Annette Lovemore said the party noted the announcement, but questioned why the two reports had not been made public.
She said: “In December last year, the DA submitted applications, in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000, for copies of the two reports. No response has been forthcoming. Questions have now been submitted for written response by the Minister.” — Sapa