The Gauteng High Court has scrapped a R1-billion IT contract awarded by South African National Parks (SANParks) to Gijima Holdings, led by tycoon Robert Gumede, branding the tender process “shambolic” and riddled with irregularities.
Judge Mandlenkosi Motha delivered a scathing judgment on April 11. He ruled that Gijima failed to meet mandatory financial and technical requirements, while SANParks violated constitutional procurement principles.
Motha wrote in the opener: “Before this court is a titanic battle for the SANParks tender, worth just about R1-billion. Blissfully unaware of this existential threat are lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceroses and cheetahs, to name but a few affected animals. I am convinced that if these animals had a say in the matter, no one would be before this court.”
Audited financial statements for 2022
The court set aside SANParks’ award of its 10-year IT outsourcing contract to Gijima. It cited that the firm failed to submit audited financial statements for 2022, which was a mandatory requirement.
SANParks had disqualified four other bidders due to similar lapses. But it allowed Gijima to proceed, Mothat noted. He ruled that Datacentrix, the incumbent provider, will continue services for 12 months while SANParks reruns the tender.
The judgment hinged on Gijima’s failure to submit audited financial statements for 2022. This was despite the tender requiring “recent three years” of records. Gijima provided 2020 and 2021 statements but argued “latest” meant the most recent available.
Motha dismissed this.
Fell short of the checklist
“To me, Gijima fell short of the checklist and ought not to have proceeded to phase 2. It would be an unnatural reading of the document to conclude that the [request for bids] did not require three years. Independently Reviewed or Audited, where possible, Annual Financial Statements or Annual Report.
“The words speak for themselves without any need for verbal gymnastics. It is insensible and most unbusinesslike to assess the financial soundness of any prospective service provider bidding to assume the responsibility involving close to a billion rand and 22 national parks by looking at a single Independently Reviewed or Audited Annual Financial Statement or Annual Report, where possible, or worse still, an old AFS, dating back to 2021.”
Motha said Gijima did not comply with the three years. It did not comply with the audited or independently reviewed requirement and certainly did not comply with recent requirements.
Lack of three-year audited financial statements
The court noted that the lack of three-year audited financial statements disqualified four bidders. These are Reikemetse Projects, WireSpeed Systems, Try Lil Bytes, and Business Connexion.
“The common denominator in all these disqualifications was the entities’ failure to comply with the requirement of three years of audited or independently reviewed annual financial statements. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. How is it that Gijima was held to a different standard? This is nothing short of disgraceful conduct,” he added.
“The fact that SANParks came to court and insisted that only one audited annual financial statement was required stinks to high heavens. This conduct is totally at variance with the constitutional precepts of fairness and equity.”
Glaring disregard for its own rules
Gijima also failed to submit a Linux Professional Institute (LPI) certificate, a mandatory technical requirement. While the judgment focused less on this, it underscored SANParks’ “glaring disregard” for its own rules.
The court slammed SANParks for illegally tweaking the tender after bids closed. In September 2023, SANParks emailed bidders to “correct” a pricing formula error. This effectively allowed Gijima to inflate its bid from R439-million to R980-million. Motha called this a “disgraceful deviation from transparency”.
Motha’s 77-page judgement pulled no punches, accusing SANParks of undermining Section 217 of the Constitutio. The section mandates fair, transparent, and competitive procurement.
The court ordered SANParks to retain Datacentrix for 12 months under the existing terms while rerunning the tender. Gijima must jointly pay Datacentrix’s legal costs, including fees for two senior counsel. SANParks must restart the process, adhering strictly to procurement laws.
