Davies gives Cipro whistle-blowers a helping hand

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies has stepped in to protect whistle-blowers who have alleged corruption in the R153-million tender that the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro) awarded to technology company Valor IT.

Cipro's chief information officer Michael Twum-Darko has been placed on special leave, while CEO Keith Sendwe is - depending on who you talk to - either on sick leave or on special leave.

Twum-Darko has been told that he "will interfere with the investigation", and is accused of victimising whistle-blowers.

According to Democratic Alliance MP Andricus van der Westhuizen, contractors and employees who questioned the tender have either been axed or suspended.

"Cipro uses many labour brokers and those who asked questions were dismissed," he says.

But Twum-Darko claims he is the victim. He says Cipro chief operating officer Melanie Bernard-Fryer, "a vindictive person", is behind this and "is looking to become CEO".

He also believes Bernard-Fryer wants to eliminate him because he is at the forefront of transformation.

Van der Westhuizen says that suspicions were raised when, shortly after the tender was awarded, a payment of R77-million was made to Valor IT for software that had yet to be deployed.

He adds that there were "a series of damaging knock-on effects, affecting the operating of Cipro's database in 2009, allegedly as a consequence of Valor IT's inexperience in setting up and handling electronic management systems".

Valor IT's CEO, Pastor Josias Molele, says he supplied a progress report, but that it did not include risks and issues at Cipro at the time Valor IT took on the project. These include Cipro not having the Oracle database management system or operating system licences, inadequate infrastructure and the lack of clean data.

Molele denies any wrongdoing and maintains he won the tender fair and square. He attributes this to his 26 years of experience in the industry, the fact that his business is 100% black-owned and that his company's quote was the cheapest.

Questions surrounding the tender came to the fore in October last year when Abe Mbulawa, the consultant hired by Valor IT to help win and manage the tender, took it to court for failing to pay him R10.5-million in fees.

But Molele says he had only agreed to pay Mbulawa R2.5-million once the tender had been awarded and that the invoice presented was "inflated". Molele has paid the R2.5-million, and maintains that Mbulawa launched his attack after he refused to pay for "goodwill".

Molele supplied Sunday Times with an e-mail that Mbulawa sent to Valor IT on February 2 last year, which reads that "people were pissed off that Valor IT was not prepared to make any goodwill payment".

Mbulawa vehemently denies any suggestions that he had attempted to solicit a bribe. He says the e-mail pertains to another project, and that the charges in addition to the R2.5-million were for entertainment, travel and other costs relating to procuring the tender.

But the question of corruption is not limited to the alleged payments of bribes, and could extend to an unfair advantage that Valor IT may have gained as the link between Twum-Darko and Mbulawa has come under scrutiny.

The two worked together at the Computer Academy of Botswana in 1988, and have had close business relations since.

Mbulawa confirms that Twum-Darko supplied him with a business case prior to being awarded the tender. He also confirms that he knew that a tender related to the business case would be issued. In addition, he says that Twum-Darko recommended that he work with Valor IT on that contract.

"I was aware of Valor IT's inability to run the project on their own, I was coming in to help them run the project properly," Mbulawa says.

A memo dated March 3 by Lungile Dukwana, Cipro's acting CEO, states that it is investigating allegations of fraud and corruption at the company. It also undertakes to protect employees against possible victimisation.

The DA, meanwhile is taking credit for Sendwe and Twum-Darko being placed on leave.

It says the suspensions followed a meeting with Davies and the "confirmation of the launch of an independent investigation".