Court sets aside Saps’ urgent call

PAY CLASH: EXPERT COMPANY ‘LOG-OUT’ COPS’ ACCESS

Police notifies Forensic Data Analysts of intention to seek final interdict.

An urgent application by national police commissioner General Khehla Sitole to force Forensic Data Analysts (FDA) to restore the police’s access to vital information technology systems has been warded off for the moment, but the fight seems to be far from over.

Sitole launched an urgent application for interim relief against FDA after the company earlier this month threatened to cut the police’s access to its firearm permit system, property control and exhibit management system and its visual analysis solution due to alleged outstanding payments.

The Saps has already notified FDA of its intention to seek a final interdict on grounds that the government was the lawful copyright owner of the systems.

The application was yesterday removed from the urgent court roll after the police managed to restore access to two of the systems, although it accused FDA of installing “malware and/or bugs” in the systems software.

FDA has in turn demanded remote access to the third system in order to restore the police’s access, but the latter insisted that they would not be allowed physical contact with the systems.

FDA, led by former cop-turned-businessperson Keith Keating, has accused the police of “unlawfully” withholding payment. In a lawyer’s letter, it described the police’s efforts to reinstate access to and the use of two of the systems as unlawful.

The police’s lawyers have threatened another urgent application if access to the visual analysis solution was not fully restored.

FDA issued a statement earlier this month saying they had not been paid for months and would suspend the police’s access to the systems.

The police’s head of legal services, Vincent Mphaphuli, said in an affidavit that FDA’s claims for payment were mired in allegations of corruption, which were the subject of an ongoing investigation. –