Revamped SIU probes R35m SAP ‘kickback’
Investigating unit transformed, beefed up and raring to tackle ‘big and small’
● The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is looking into allegations that kickbacks amounting to R35m were paid to officials, and possibly politicians, in the awarding of a R500m IT contract in the department of water & sanitation.
The SIU head, advocate Andy Mothibi, told the Sunday Times this week that his unit would not allow junior officials to take the fall and that politicians would not be spared.
The contract was awarded during Nomvula Mokonyane’s tenure as minister of water & sanitation.
“If our investigations lead us to a political player, we will investigate that,” said Mothibi.
The contract was awarded to IT giant SAP, and the alleged crime took place around 2015.
Investigators found prima facie evidence of corruption in relation to the SAP tender and Mothibi wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa, asking him to sign a proclamation for the unit to investigate the contract.
Ramaphosa’s office announced the investigation this week.
The SIU convinced Ramaphosa that this matter had to be investigated separately from existing investigations it is conducting into corruption at the department of water & sanitation in relation to water boards.
Mothibi said his unit had enough evidence to believe that officials in the department received kickbacks and has premised part of its investigation on an existing report by the auditor-general on the troubled department.
“Our hand will be even,” said Mothibi, adding that it doesn’t matter if companies and politicians implicated in corruption are “big or small”, they will be pursued by the unit — which, he said, had undergone a complete transformation.
A team of 12 investigators — lawyers, forensic investigators and forensic accountants — are combing through evidence and have until February to come up with a report to be submitted to Ramaphosa.
Besides the corruption related to the contract, the SIU investigators have been given the green light to investigate officials in the department and find out whether their actions cost the state unduly.
Mothibi said the other investigations that Ramaphosa signed off on this week — into tender irregularities in the eThekwini and Ekurhuleni municipalities — would also be prioritised.
In Ekurhuleni, the SIU is investigating alleged corruption in the awarding of contracts in relation to the construction of the Vosloorus Hospital Public Transport Facility and the Bluegum View Public Transport Facility. In eThekwini, which covers Durban, the SIU is investigating a contract awarded in 2014 for the supply of waste recycling bags.
The municipality reportedly paid R90m for the manufacture and supply of the orange recycling bags.
The SIU has overhauled its systems by hiring 21 more investigators to fast-track investigations.
It has also changed its operating system, and obtained the services of professional advisory companies to assist.
Mothibi confirmed that the unit wrote to the NPA to bemoan the lack of successful prosecutions on the back of the SIU’s reports.
“We have signed a memorandum of understanding … and now a team with employees from the SIU and the NPA are monitoring these cases,” he said.
Mothibi said the new strategy, approved after Ramaphosa was appointed, allows for the impact of the SIU’s work to be felt through quick turnarounds of investigations.
“We want to ensure that our recommendations lead to prosecutions,” he said.