The City of Johannesburg’s top forensics investigator, Shadrack Sibiya, stands in front of wall filled with computer screens, the hum of electricity in the air.
When it begins operations next month, this heavily secured “war room” will be the city’s key weapon against corruption. “This centre will provide direct insight into the belly of corruption within the metro,” says Sibiya.
Inside the forensic information management centre, developed at a cost of R20m, eight cyber and data analysts will scour tender documents, CCTV footage, cellphone information and business records of contractors and corrupt city officials.
Their task: to identify officials colluding with criminals and contractors to steal from the city’s coffers.
The vault-like room in an unmarked building in the city centre comes with a 25cm solid steel door. No photos are allowed and it radiates a sense of secrecy.
Sibiya, head of the city’s forensic and investigation services, commands a team of 86 forensic investigators. Since 2017 they have investigated more than 1,650 officials, with 1,042 cases handed over to the Hawks for criminal investigation. Just over 600 cases are still active.
In development since March 2019, the centre is equipped with forensic analysis systems providing real-time data on all city entities, their activities and the officials and contractors they do business with.
The systems will conduct threat assessments on city infrastructure and contracts potentially vulnerable to exploitation, and raise red flags over contractors and officials involved in previously questionable dealings.
Some of the analysts are former members of the Hawks or the State Security Agency — Sibiya himself was head of the Hawks in Gauteng.
Governance and cyber forensic experts welcomed the centre’s establishment, but said it had a mountain to climb.
“The biggest challenge always comes down to prosecutions,” said Wits University school of economics and finance lecturer Lumkile Mondi.
“In SA lots of ‘war rooms’ have come and gone. Crucial to the corruption fight is the will of prosecutors to ensure the corrupt don orange prison uniforms. Without that, war rooms often amount to nothing. This initiative must be done hand-in-glove with prosecutors and the Hawks.”
Professor Danny Myburgh, MD of digital forensic company Cyanre, said integrating intelligence sources was crucial in spotting criminal activities, but they had to be properly equipped.
“That’s to ensure you can correctly break down information to map out potential threats and identify common threads between people and money flows.”
Sibiya, acknowledging the challenges, said one of his main tasks was to bolster relations with the Hawks, the Special Investigating Unit and the National Prosecuting Authority.
“Lots do not want this centre to succeed. The pushback has been immense, but the support from the administration, especially the executive mayor, is there.”
He said the centre's analysts would scour banking and cellphone records, financial transactions obtained through court orders, contracts and CCTV footage as they investigated corruption suspects.
“Every city entity, especially those which deal with big revenue flows such as refunds, will be targeted, including officials working directly with contractors, who draw up tenders, evaluate bids and work with databases containing residents’ details.”
Sibiya said his department had cases of officials selling information to criminals about residents whose accounts are in arrears.
“These officials also provide these gangsters with official documents including job cards. They pretend to be city officials and bribe homeowners into not having their water and electricity cut off.
“We also have major issues with building hijackings and theft of water and electricity involving officials. The systems will help us analyse information we receive on such crimes to identify and deal with these officials.”
Sibiya said city officials and service providers would be vetted through the centre’s systems.
“There will be a security audit of the vulnerability of every premises and staff member. We will analyse contractors, previous business they did with the city and, importantly, relations they have with officials.
“The centre will map where corruption is occurring in the city through the input of data from all the dockets we are investigating. This will provide details on all corrupt role players, determine where and how crime is being committed, which department is most affected and losses sustained through the theft of infrastructure, equipment and money.”
We can zoom in on contractors … find links between officials and companies bidding for tenders, establish whether bidders were awarded tenders by the city before, whether those tenders were red-flagged and if bidders repeatedly interact with certain officials
— Lucky Sindane, spokesperson for Shadrack Sibiya
Sibiya’s spokesperson, Lucky Sindane, said the centre would for the first time provide the city with its own cyber-forensics tool set.
“While we could fight corruption in the past, there was a lack of capacity around the city’s forensics capabilities. Sophisticated financial investigations were outsourced at exorbitant costs, which took a long time.”
He said the centre’s systems would greatly improve the unit’s capabilities. “We will be able to mirror-image the cellphones and computers of employees suspected of corruption, to see who they have irregular dealings with and identify the modus operandi of their crimes.
“Through the systems we can zoom in on contractors ... find links between officials and companies bidding for tenders, establish whether bidders were awarded tenders by the city before, whether those tenders were red-flagged and if bidders repeatedly interact with certain officials.”
Sindane said the systems could use banking information secured through court applications to map money flows between employees and contractors.
Video surveillance software would allow the city to identify and monitor corrupt officials and contractors across the metro, he said.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.