Home Affairs has denied misappropriating R450-million worth of taxpayers’ money on its population register system.
The DA spokesperson on home affairs, Angel Khanyile, said on Sunday that she had written to the chairperson of the portfolio committee on home affairs, Mosa Steve Chabane, to request that Motsoaledi appear before the committee and account for the misappropriated funds.
According to Khanyile, Home Affairs paid almost R300-million to EOH Holdings to upgrade the Home Affairs national information system to the Automated Biometric Identification System [ABIS]. She said the R300-million has now seemingly gone down the drain.
She added that the department also paid R150-million to another company, Idemia, which was hired to complete the project, noting that the company is a sub-contractor of EOH, which had failed to complete the project.
“Investigations revealed that government officials allegedly engineered an unlawful scheme to award the tender to the politically connected EOH Holdings. Despite these investigations and findings, no apparent action has been taken, which is typical of any ANC scandal. It is the ANC rot that the people of South Africa have unfortunately come to know and expect,” said Khanyile.
Home Affairs is accusing Khanyile of “feigning ignorance”, stating that she has chosen to attack the department based on incorrect figures while she has the correct information at her disposal.
Home Affairs spokesperson Siya Qoza said: “The [minister] believes that it is grossly dishonest and disingenuous for Ms Khanyile to pretend to the public that she does not have the correct facts about the ABIS contract.
“We wish to repeat that Ms Khanyile has got access to the correct information than what [the media] has printed simply because this information was given to all members of the portfolio committee. If she was a person of integrity, she wouldn’t be saying the things that she is saying.
“There is a big claim, or should we say a big lie, that has been printed in the media that the department has blown R450-million. Ms Khanyile is gladly rehashing this big lie.”
According to Qoza, this is all hearsay. He said a forensic audit report can corroborate the department’s claim that it did not misuse the taxpayers’ money.
“Sita issued a contract worth R409-million to EOH. At the time the forensic report was read in parliament, the department had paid R280-million, not R300-million. [A difference of R20-million is a huge amount of money].
“The department outlined clearly what this R280-million was for and the forensic audit did the same. EOH, the company in question here, pulled out of all government contracts, including the ABIS contract.
“At the time they pulled out of the ABIS project, they had already purchased hardware worth R113-million, software worth R110-million, and had delivered services worth R56-million. This totals to R280-million. To say the department has blown this amount, smells of malice,” Qoza said.
He added that concerns were raised over the costs of continuing with the project, however, no one objected. “The department outlined the steps it was taking to recoup its money in the form of penalties to EOH for not completing the project on time, as stipulated in the original contract. That legal process is ongoing.
“Nobody in the portfolio committee, including Ms Khanyile, protested that the department should not proceed in that way.”
Qoza also revealed that the portfolio committee was aware that Idemia was going to receive R150-million to complete the project, meaning Khanyile was also in the know.
“Today we are reading that the department has also blown this R150-million for a project that has not been completed. We want to state categorically again that no R150-million has been paid, and hence blown.
“At the moment, the department has only paid R12-million of the ceded amount of R150-million for the work already done. The rest can only be paid when the project has been completed, because we pay for every milestone reached.”
Home Affairs also accused Khanyile of being an incompetent MP, saying she “pretends not to know the department has already started rolling out a booking system”.
He said: “The department wishes to remind her that it reported to the portfolio committee when this appointment booking system commenced.
“Because she seems to be a member of parliament that so easily forgets, the department wishes to remind her that 56 offices are now using the booking system. And since its commencement in June 2022, there are 115 329 South Africans who have used this booking system.”
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