A senior home affairs official and a business executive have appeared in the commercial crimes court for alleged corruption relating to a tender awarded to a private company, the department said in Thursday.

Coltrane Nyathi, a senior Lefatshe Technology executive and the home affairs chief director of infrastructure management, Hilitha Nkosana, appeared in the Pretoria court on Wednesday. They would remain in custody until their bail application on 16 August.

Home affairs and the police said in a joint statement the men were arrested in Centurion on Tuesday following a sting operation by the Hawks and the home affairs anti-corruption unit.

The corruption charge surfaced after an alleged attempt by Nyathi to hand R200 000 to Nkosana to “influence him to act unlawfully and to the benefit of their company”.

Lefatshe Technology was awarded a tender by the department to supply security systems such as the antivirus programming for its computer systems. In terms of the tender, Lefatshe Technology successfully concluded phase one of the contract as awarded.

“However, problems arose in the contract due to failure by Lefatshe Technology to meet the required standards in delivering on its mandate. Accordingly, the department was left with no option but to put a halt to the contract.

“It is this decision by the department … that may have allegedly prompted the two persons to act in manner described above, with a view to restoring the contract to Lefatshe Technology,” the statement read.

Commenting on the arrests, head of the Hawks Anwar Dramat said only through a joint working relationship could the scourge of crime and corruption by a minority effectively be dealt with.

Those still harbouring ambitions of manipulating tendering systems in government departments such as home affairs were warned of the dire consequences of such actions. — Sapa