Deputy comms minister implicated in R300m tender dispute

Deputy communications minister Pinky Kekana will not be drawn on allegations regarding the role she played in a R300m IT tender dispute between a multinational company called Micro Focus and another local company Afrocentric.

Sunday Times reports that Micro Focus alleged that Kekana advised it which local company to appoint as its local partner.

Micro Focus provides software licences and consulting services to the State Information Technology Agency (Sita).

This informations came to light after Micro Focus prematurely ended its relationship with Afrocentric in July without providing any reasons for the termination.

Micro Focus later went on to appoint a new partner in the form of X Telecoms.

Sunday Times further reports that Afrocentric Projects and Services was appointed last November on a two-year contract to be part of a project estimated to be worth $25m (about R364m).

It was then that Kekana was reportedly asked for guidance by Micro Focus on which company should replace Afrocentric.

A Sita spokesperson told the Sunday Times the agency did not know why Afrocentric’s contract had been cancelled.

Afrocentric’s owner Luvo Gwiliza, asked Sita and communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams to intervene, but X Telecoms owner Khethi Nkosi countered this by saying there was nothing untoward about his company’s appointment by Micro Focus, adding that Kekana had nothing to do with it.

Late last month, Kekana was a speaker at a Micro Focus conference.

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