Dear Mr Cobbett

Subject: CIPRO tender claims: Minister must authorise an independent enquiry

Thank you for your enquiry into the statement issued by Mr Andricus van der Westhuizen of the Democratic Alliance and the opportunity afforded to CIPRO of responding to the allegations made in the statement (see here).

For background purposes we wish to highlight that the awarding of the CIPRO tender has been addressed by CIPRO as well as by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Rob Davies, on several occasions and different platforms including the media, the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces.

In the interest of transparency and accountability we wish to respond to a number of misleading assertions made in the media statement issued by Mr van der Westhuizen.

In reply to the call made for Minister Rob Davies to authorise an independent enquiry into, amongst other things, the awarding of the CIPRO information technology tender, we wish to draw your attention to the fact that a forensic audit has been conducted by the office of the Auditor-General. The draft report, which was published in August this year, has revealed that the approved supply chain management process was followed. No irregularities were found.

The court case referred to in the media statement is a matter between Mantra Consulting (Pty) Ltd and VALORit CC. CIPRO and the Minister of Trade and Industry have been cited as first and second interested parties and not defendants.

For ease of reference we will address each of your questions individually.

• In particular, I am interested in the comments made about Michael Twum-Darko's nationality and his suitability to hold such a sensitive post.

The Chief Information Officer, Dr Michael Twum-Darko took office in January 2008.

He immediately completed security clearance documents, which were submitted to NIA by CIPRO's Security unit. He also completed assets declaration forms and signed the customary declaration of secrecy.

Dr Michael Twum-Darko is a South African permanent resident with a Ph.D degree from UCT in Information Systems. He has been living in South Africa for more than 15 years during which time he has lectured in Computer Science at the University of Transkei and has held several senior IT management positions. As Project Management Consultant with Faritec Dr Twum-Darko was in charge of the CYBORG HR and payroll system for the City of Cape Town and also ensured that the City became Y2K compliant. He was also tasked with the setting up and heading of IT PMO for the City of Cape Town and project managed the SARS Siyakha project in the Cape on behalf of Faritec.

His last position before joining CIPRO was that of Divisional Director: Application Management with Safmarine Computer Services (SCS), which was later, acquired by IBM.

Dr Twum-Darko serves as an external examiner for MTech on ICT related topics at Cape Peninsular University of Technology (CPUT). He is also a supervisor for a number of post-graduate students.

• I'd also like to know what previous experience Valor IT had. Is it possible to have a list of the five most recent jobs it completed prior to the Cipro appointment?

While we can provide the schedule here below which lists major VALORit projects it is adviseable that you engage directly with VALORit. We believe that the onus is on the directors of the company to provide information about their projects and clients.

CIPRO however stands firm in its conviction that VALORit, who has agreements with Zensar, TIBCO Software Inc. and Vignette, is the appropriate company to implement the ECM, which is set to transform CIPRO into a new-look, totally e-focused organisation.

Zensar, with more than 5000 associates and presence across US, UK, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Middle East, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Poland and China, delivers comprehensive services in mission-critical applications, enterprise applications, e-business and Business Process Outsourcing Services. TIBCO, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with over 3,000 customers and offices in 40 countries, has offered leading organisations around the world better awareness and agility. They provide the enterprise software assisting companies achieving service-oriented architecture (SOA) and business process management (BPM).

Vignette solutions, with more than 10 years experience and local clients; including Nedbank, SABC, Standard Bank and ABSA provide the backbone of online interactions. The combination of experience and solutions provided by the group will add value to the implementation of a successful ECM system.

• Lastly, there is an impression in some quarters that honest whistleblowers are being hounded out of Cipro. Is Cipro able to elaborate on the precise reasons for the suspension of Melanie Bernard-Fryer.

May we refer you to our email response of 7 September in which we answered five fairly specific questions on the same subject.

In summary, it is incorrect to assert that ‘honest whistleblowers' are being hounded out of CIPRO. In fact, CIPRO has actively spearheaded the fight against Fraud and Corruption and have long encouraged concerned citizens to report any acts of malpractice. Where needed, their anonymity is at all times assured. No official has therefore been hounded for whistle blowing.

As indicated the Chief Operating Officer of CIPRO, Ms Melanie Bernard-Fryer, was suspended because of the need to investigate other, unrelated matters. She is currently not suspended.

Most of the assertions made in the media statement issued by the DA are not new and have, as indicated earlier, been addressed by CIPRO and the Department of Trade and Industries on previous occasions. They appear to be part of an attempt to cast aspersions on the leadership of CIPRO in order to bring stature of the entity into disrepute.

The leadership of CIPRO will not be discouraged by what appears to be a deliberate misinformation campaign and will continue with its organisational transformation programme, which is in keeping with the broader national agenda.

Thank you once again for your enquiry. We value the opportunity of engaging with you and trust that we have cleared up some of the points raised in the DA's media statement.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require any additional information.

Yours sincerely

Keith W. Sendwe

Chief Executive Officer

COMPANIES AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REGISTRATION OFFICE

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