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Johannesburg - Empowerment group ValorIT, which was awarded a controversial R153m tender by the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro), is now taking the minister of trade and industry to court to have the contract ratified.
ValorIT approached the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria for a declaratory order to have its contract for Cipro’s new electronic content management system (ECM) declared valid.
The new system is critically important for overcoming serious capacity problems at Cipro.
The existing system is a source of tremendous frustration for clients and is characterised by long delays in, for instance, registering new companies and close corporations as well as submitting annual reports.
In May Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies addressed a letter to ValorIT after a forensic investigation had brought to light serious irregularities in the awarding of the contract.
Davies gave ValorIT 10 days to provide reasons why the contract should not be cancelled.
But in court the onus will be on Davies, Trade and Industry director-general Tshediso Matona and Cipro, who are cited as respondents, to prove that the contract should be declared null and void.
Davies previously declared that the forensic investigation had furnished adequate proof, which is why it was halted.
The court could possibly order that the report, which has been kept secret until now, has to be made public.
The report is expected to reveal the close relationship between the management of ValorIT and Cipro’s suspended CEO and head of information, and will probably also throw light on which decision-makers benefited financially from the awarding of the tender.
On Wednesday Cipro spokesperson Dr Elsabé Conradie said ValorIT’s work on the ECM system was continuing unabated.
With the new Companies Act coming into force in October the new system is crucially important, she said.
- Sake24.com
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