Home Affairs Minister Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi on Tuesday accused Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Angel Khanyile of “dishonesty” over calls that his department explains to Parliament how it spent “hundreds of millions” of rand on a project that remained incomplete five years later.
Khanyile recently said her party wrote to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, Mosa Steve Chabane, to request that home affairs Minister appears before the Committee to explain how “hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ money could have been spent on a project that, five years down the line, is still incomplete?”
She said the DA move was prompted by an exposé in the City Press that said home affairs spent R450 million on a contract to upgrade its population register system that, “until this day, had not been completed”.
Reacting to the development Dr. Motsoaledi said he “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 [Automated Biometric Identification System] contract”.
The home affairs minister added: “She is feigning ignorance and pretending that the only information she has is the one printed in the City Press of 24 July 2022.
Dr. Motsoaledi said: “Ms. Khanyile knows very well that some five years ago the Department of Home Affairs wished to move away from a biometric system called Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS), which has only two biometrics, a fingerprint, and a photo, to a new, much improved biometric system called ABIS, which has got five biometrics, including facial and iris recognition”.
He said all South Africans who are on the National Population Register are on the HANIS.
“Part of this project is to migrate all of their data to ABIS, before adding the other biometrics,” explained the minister.
“This was to improve security of enabling documents by lowering the possibility of people obtaining documents like IDs and passports fraudulently.”
In terms of current government policy, departments cannot issue tenders to acquire IT services.
Such a mandate is carried by the State Information Technology Agency (SITA).
The minister said the Department of Home Affairs followed this policy and hence SITA duly issued this tender on behalf of the department. This contract was given to a company called EOH.
“By virtue of being a Member of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, Ms Khanyile is aware that when the then Auditor General audited SITA, he picked up irregularities in the contract issued to EOH to deliver the ABIS.
“She also knows that the Department of Home Affairs was instructed by the Auditor General to conduct a forensic investigation on this EOH contract because while it was issued by SITA, it was the Department of Home Affairs that was going to pay.
“This forensic investigation was done and completed by a company called Nexia SAB&T.”
Dr. Motsoaledi said On 25 May 2021, the Nexia SAB&T team that did the forensic audit presented their findings directly to the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs.
“Ms. Khanyile did attend this meeting.”
They made recommendations that stretched from criminal investigation by the Hawks to criminal prosecution by the National Prosecuting Authority and disciplinary processes by both the department and SITA.
“The department presented to the Portfolio Committee, in the presence of Ms. Khanyile, how it is implementing these recommendations,” said the minister.
“Today, for political expediency, she pretends not to have correct information other than what is in the media. She even implicates the ANC when it has nothing to do with this contract.
“We wish to repeat that Ms. Khanyile has got access to the correct information than what City Press has printed simply because this information was given to all members of the Portfolio Committee.
“If she was a person of integrity, she wouldnt 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.”
He said the initial headline screamed that the home affairs department had blown R300 million.
“From there, the R300 million miraculously grew to R450 million which has purportedly been blown,” Dr. Motsoaledi said.
“We want to put it on record that there is no R450 million that the department has blown.”
The minister said the forensic audit report clearly stated the amount paid and what it was for.
“Since this was presented in the Portfolio Committee, we insist that Ms. Khanyile has got access to this information,” said Dr. Motsoaledi.
“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).”
He said the department outlined clearly what the 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 with R56 million. This totals to R280 million,” explained the minister.
“To say the department has blown this amount, smells of malice.”
He said the Portfolio Committee was eager that the department should do everything in its power to rescue this project because ABIS is very important for the security of the countrys identity documents.
“The department went back to the Portfolio Committee to outline the rescue process whereby the contract would be ceded to IDEMIA and gave reasons why it had to be ceded this way,” said Dr. Motsoaledi.
“Furthermore, the department outlined the step 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.”
The minister said 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.”
The minister said he would “actually be pleased if the Portfolio Committee were to call him to appear before it to explain these issues again, as he has done before”.
