The country’s trade and industry minister, Rob Davies, on Thursday said the government intends to cancel the contract for an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system with ValorIT due the allegations coming to light.
Opposition party Democratic Alliance’s deputy shadow minister of trade and industry, Andricus van der Westhuizen, said this afternoon (Friday) that the political party welcomed the pending cancellation of the R152.7 million ValorIT tender, which follows eight months of DA investigation and exposés.
“The DA also welcomes the extension of the suspension of the chief executive officer as well as the chief information officer of Cipro.
“The DA has been intimately involved in exposing the truth about fraud and corruption at Cipro, South Africa’s critically important business information and registration agency.
“Since September 2009, the DA has exposed a number of alleged activities building up to, and including, the irregular ECM tender,” said Van der Westhuizen.
He also accused Cipro of issuing incorrect statements to the public saying members involved in the fraud should be dismissed from work.
“This vindicates our longstanding concerns about the ValorIT tender, and makes a mockery of the series of counterclaims made by Cipro.
“In addition to announcing the almost certain cancellation of the tender, the Minister has also informed the committee that disciplinary charges against senior staff members of Cipro are being formulated,” said van der Westhuizen.
He applauded the DA for playing a central role in exposing the roles of Cipro’s chief executive officer and chief information officer in the ValorIT tender, saying the party had repeatedly called for action to be taken.
He added: “Owing to committed and rigorous oversight, the corrupt tender saga between Cipro and ValorIT may now finally come to a close; we hope this means that we can now get to work ensuring that Cipro becomes an effective, well managed entity that delivers a high standard of services.”-
