Former police commissioner Gen Khehla Sitole’s firearms fiasco has cost taxpayers more than R1bn as the South African Police Service (SAPS) incurs interest of R1m a week on a R460m contract he reneged on.
The police’s failure to pay led to the controversial shutdown of a sophisticated biometrics system for firearm permits in 2019 by service provider Forensic Data Analysts (FDA).
The shutdown means police must now manually write up the details of firearms that are booked in, as well as the daily issuing of firearms to officers.
It has also been linked to reports that police have subsequently lost over 3,000 firearms and are now unable to effectively track and trace the weapons.
The costs of the botched contract emerged after a defeat in the Pretoria high court in December, where current national police commissioner Fannie Masemola was directed to immediately sign the written contract and pay FDA the full amended price of R644m for the system’s intellectual property and R120m for maintenance and support, plus interest.
Masemola’s office was also ordered to pay the FDA’s legal costs. But Masemola has failed to pay and has instead petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeal after his appeal to the high court failed.
The National Treasury’s then director-general, Dondo Mogajane, had in January 2020 brokered a R500m settlement between the police and FDA, but Sitole reneged on the payment just hours after the deal was reached.
Testifying in court last year, Sitole, whose evidence was found to be not credible, said he had withdrawn the offer to FDA because the then police minister Bheki Cele was unhappy with the settlement figure.
Police portfolio committee chair Ian Cameron has raised concerns over the escalating costs and the fact that for six years the police have effectively been forced to rely on manual processes for parts of firearm administration after the FDA system was switched off in 2019.
“The situation around the firearm administration system is a serious example of how long-standing failures in procurement and systems management end up costing the public enormous amounts of money.
“What is particularly concerning now is the financial consequence. The court ruling means the state is liable for a very large amount, reportedly now exceeding R1bn, with interest continuing to accumulate daily. This is money that should have been used to strengthen policing capacity, improve investigative capability and support frontline officers, not to pay for avoidable administrative and contractual failures,” said Cameron.
The police were also found to have illegally operated FDA’s firearm permit system, forensic management system and intelligence gathering system.
In a scathing judgment in the Pretoria high court, judge Sulet Potterill said: “Sitole defied the court orders and was found in contempt of court for utilizing the systems; that is how necessary the systems were. He admitted that he knew that SAPS was interdicted from using the systems yet kept on using [them]…
“An order is granted directing the SAPS to fulfil any unfulfilled requirements imposed by law for the lawfulness of the procurement, insofar as there may be such requirements; and its obligations in terms of the oral contract (as amended) by paying the plaintiffs (FDA), upon the signature of the last party to the written version of the oral contract (as amended).”???
Songezo Zibi, chair of the standing committee on public accounts, said the matter should have been resolved a long time ago.
“I am deeply concerned that the court judgment appears to suggest that the systems in dispute are not currently operational. In the context of the organised and violent crime problems we have and the complicity of the police at all levels in shielding criminal elements from accountability, what is possible in this case is frightening. In that vein I will be writing to the minister of police to ask him to look into the matter urgently,” said Zibi.
The stand-off began in 2020 when Sitole did not honour court orders to pay FDA.
Sitole’s first “own goal” was on January 31 2020, at the Presidential guesthouse where Mogajane confirmed a budget of R500m for the settlement. SAPS would purchase the intellectual property (IP) for R460m, plus R120m for two years of support. Sitole signed a letter confirming this settlement.
But within two hours he withdrew the letter, acting on Cele’s instructions.
“The fact that the national commissioner of police, a big cog in the justice system, ignored contempt of court orders and interdicts against SAPS, reflects a total disregard of the judicial system,” Potterill said in her judgment.
“It further reflected his lack of commitment and compliance with undertakings and agreements and his mala fide approach towards his undertakings and agreements to FDA… Sitole exercised his discretion but did not complete the internal processes and thereby repudiated the agreement. Sitole in fact set out that he ‘terminated the deal’.”
FDA rejected the withdrawal and threatened to execute a court order to switch off its systems.
“Up to here the cat and mouse game speaks for itself; the SAPS is utilizing the systems with Sita [State Information Technology Agency] violating FDA’s source code while attempting to copy the system and promises of purchasing come to nought… In that time FDA’s source code was breached and Sita was attempting to develop systems to replace FDA’s systems,” said Potterill.
Sitole’s second own goal came on February 3 2020, when he met FDA again. To appease them, he agreed to amend the oral contract, agreeing to a fair value assessment to determine the final price. This was supposed to be a sign of commitment. Yet Sitole failed to pay the promised R88m part payment, missed the February 28 deadline for the valuation, and didn’t pay the outstanding licence fees.
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