D-Day looms for Cipro IT tender

Key players in the contentious R153-million Cipro IT tender are at one another's throats in an orgy of finger-pointing as the day of reckoning approaches for those accused of collusion and corruption.

Trade and industry minister Rob Davies is due to outline what action he will take - and against whom - when he appears before parliament's financial watchdog, the standing committee on public accounts, next week.

He has been studying two reports into the tender for an enterprise content management (ECM) system, one by the auditor-general and another by SSG, a private forensic firm.

Davies has refused to give details of the SSG report, which provides fresh details of the close relationship between Michael Twum-Darko, the chief information officer of Cipro, Keith Sendwe, the CEO of Cipro, and Abe Mbulawa, who claims that his Mantra Consulting firm facilitated the contract for ValorIT.

However, the friendship between the players has soured since the contract was signed in March 2009.

Mbulawa sued ValorIT, headed by Josias Molele, to demand payment of a R10-million consultancy fee.

When judgment in the case was handed down this week, both sides claimed victory.

"We won the case," a jubilant Mbulawa said.

But Molele retorted: "I actually came out better because I am not paying him what he wants ... he's only getting the R2.5-million that was in the contract."

The truth about how the ECM tender came to be awarded is hard to fathom, despite the fact that two of the key figures - Molele and Twum-Darko - are churchmen.

Twum-Darko was placed on "special" leave and is not allowed to speak to the media.

Sendwe has been on sick leave since January and could not be reached for comment.