Changes to procurement procedures at the State IT Agency (Sita) are undermining governance backstops designed to prevent graft at government’s central IT buying organisation, which manages billions of rand in annual spending.

Well-placed sources inside Sita have told TechCentral that they are worried about the changes, which come at a time when the organisation faces instability at board and management level. The sources asked not to be named, fearing retaliation.

The sources –with whom TechCentral has met – said Sita’s bid procurement committee (BPC), which had been required to seek board concurrence for contracts worth more than R50-million, has now been given the power to approve bids without the need for this oversight, up to a value of R300-million.

“The problem is that these changes have not been amended in Sita’s policies, but they are already being applied at an operational level,” one of the sources claiming to have knowledge of the situation said. “When employees question such bypassing of policy, they are either suspended or pressured into resigning.”

The decision to change governance protocols, the sources warned, has served to weaken the board at a time when Sita is going through a difficult period with an interim board, raising questions about how the risk of the change was assessed.

“In any entity, delegations of authority are reviewed as and when the need arises to improve efficiencies while ensuring accountability by those trusted with such authority,” Sita spokesman Tlali Tlali said in e-mailed response to a query by TechCentral about the claims made by the sources.

“This applies across Sita to any delegations, including those relating to procurement. These are internal governance processes and decisions that are taken by the board and/or its committees. Therefore, we confirm that Sita does review the delegations from time to time,” Tlali added.

Election

But TechCentral’s sources alleged that giving the BPC the power to approve deals of up to R300-million without board oversight is designed to expedite looting at the agency before changes are made to parliament’s communications portfolio committee, which has oversight of the agency, following the national election last week.

The ANC has for the first time lost its outright majority in parliament and must now negotiate a coalition government with one or more opposition parties. The makeup of parliamentary oversight committees is also likely to change dramatically.

It’s alleged that eliminating the requirement to take large bids to the board, which usually only meets once every three months, will expedite the issuing of tenders to politically connected bidders before the parliamentary portfolio committee is reconstituted.

Read: Gungubele given bloody nose in Sita board mess

The allegations come six months after communications minister Mondli Gungubele appointed a ministerial task team to look into the causes of the procurement backlog at Sita, with former advisor to the minister of small business development, Simphiwe Dzengwa, as its chair.

TechCentral is aware of four cases where Sita employees were either suspended or chose to move into different business units in recent months. Most of these happened after the introduction of the ministerial task team, which the sources accused of using harassment and intimidation against Sita employees. The task team reports directly to Gungubele.

When Dzengwa was appointed as interim Sita MD in February, the Public Servants Association, a union representing many of Sita’s employees, sounded the alarm bell.

“It has never happened before that somebody from outside [an organisation] is brought in to act as an MD without looking internally to see if there is anybody capable of taking on the position,” PSA spokesman Zamani Dladla said at the time.

“Also, when we look at his (Dzengwa’s) profile, we see that he has close proximity to politicians, which is what worries us most.”

TechCentral’s sources also allege that:

The position of chief procurement officer has changed twice since November 2023, allegedly because those who previously held the role were not willing to breach procurement procedures when instructed to do so by a senior member of the board.
The role is currently filled, on an interim basis, by another external hire. Similar changes, the sources say, took place in Sita’s executive bid adjudication committee (Ebac), one of the key governance structures in the agency’s procurement environment.

It is alleged that Dzengwa at one point wanted to take on the role of Ebac chairman, but this was not approved by the board because it is not legal for a board member to “be both a referee and a player”. Sita, however, denies this allegation.

“We are not aware of any board resolution denying the acting MD from chairing any committee at Sita. There is also nothing untoward with this process as it is common practice for Sita MDs to chair or alternate as chair for some of the bid evaluation committees,” said Sita’s Tlali.

The sources also allege that managers are being coerced into signing suspension letters for employees who do not tow the line, and they are allegedly targeted and harassed if they refuse to sign.

They said bids that go through the procurement process successfully, where the preferred bidder is not linked to one favoured by rogue elements at Sita, are “nitpicked out of contention”. Once the unwanted bidders are disqualified, sources say, the “favoured” bidders are then pushed through governance processes.

Sometimes, the sources allege, bid adjudication committees for certain proposals are reshuffled to exclude individuals whose recommendations go against the desires of rogue elements at Sita. Again, Tlali said there is nothing untoward regarding the reshuffling of bid adjudication committees.

“As a standard practice, supply-chain management (SCM) regulations require the accounting officer to review Sita’s bid adjudication committees and determine its terms of office,” he said.

“This is meant to assess the effectiveness of these critical SCM committees in the entity. The MD must then inform the board on the newly established committees. The board thereafter considers, makes input and decides on the appointment of the committees.”

It is further alleged that when bids by “favoured” applicants come forward, they are not taken through the same rigorous processes that were used to disqualify other applicants. Committee members who raise concerns about the inconsistency in criteria, it is alleged, are silenced through intimidation. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media