A senior IT official at the office of the chief justice (OCJ) has been found to have helped funnel more than R100m in IT contracts to a company belonging to the mother of his child.
The Sunday Times has learnt that an internal investigation by the OCJ into the relationship between former information security officer Sipho Matshika and company owner Masabata Shuping has confirmed that not only were the two business partners, they were also engaged to be married and have a child together.
The investigation found that, to date, the OCJ has paid Shuping’s company Pursuit Knowledge Consulting (PKC) R48m from various contracts. These contracts are now on hold pending further investigations, as well as a judicial review.
In June, the Sunday Times reported that the OCJ awarded two cybersecurity contracts worth R2.7m and R24m to PKC in 2020, and that Matshika had led processes to draw up specifications and also recommended the appointment.
Publicly available information held by the Companies & Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) showed that Matshika and Shuping were former business partners in a company that was registered in 2007 and is now deregistered.
At the time, Shuping and Matshika denied they were close friends and business partners, saying they had last seen each other more than a decade ago after being part of the same academic class. Shuping even submitted an affidavit to the OCJ to that effect.
However, the Sunday Times understands that information recovered from Matshika’s two work laptops, which had been erased, and emails on the OCJ’s server, revealed that the two were far from distant. The communication that the investigators found, dated 2019 and 2020, showed that they referred to each other as “fiancé/e”. The investigation also confirmed that both Matshika and Shuping misled the OCJ in declarations included in the bidding process.
Besides the emails, the information retrieved from the server included Shuping’s property lease documents and a letter by Matshika to Shuping’s medical aid in which he confirms she is his fiancée and they have a child together. The investigation also found other evidence they were a couple, including transactions in which Matshika transferred money into Shuping’s account and an airline ticket to Cape Town she bought him.
Publicly available information shows that Shuping’s last job before registering PKC in October 2019 was for the ANC’s parliamentary caucus, where she was a researcher. The Sunday Times was unable to verify any IT-related experience.
Attempts to reach Matshika and Shuping for comment by phone, text and WhatsApp message this week were unsuccessful. Their phones were switched off the entire week.
The OCJ declined to comment, saying “the matter relating to PKC is before the court and therefore sub judice. The protocols relating to the sub judice principle should be observed.”
The Sunday Times’s report into the contracts Matshika allegedly helped award Shuping’s company followed its exposé on three senior OCJ officials, former CFO Casper Coetzer, chief director of court administration Nathi Mncube and case management director Yvonne van Niekerk. They allegedly presided over the awarding of a R225m contract to Thomson Reuters for the online court system, and then resigned to work as 30% subcontractors on the project.
Following the reports, the OCJ suspended both contracts and began investigations into their awards, as well as other IT contracts.
The matter relating to PKC is before the court and therefore sub judice. The protocols relating to the sub judice principle should be observed
— Office of the chief justice
The Thomson Reuters contract is under investigation by the Hawks, which recently conducted raids on Coetzer, Mncube and Van Niekerk’s homes, where electronic devices and documents were seized.
This week, OCJ secretary-general Memme Sejosengwe, the organisation’s accounting officer, told parliament’s portfolio committee on justice that the OCJ had completed forensic investigations into the cases with the help of the Special Investigating Unit. She also said PKC had taken the OCJ to court after it suspended the company’s contract and payments, and that they were opposing a bid by PKC to lift the suspension.
Sejosengwe said that after an internal investigation the OCJ had “approached the SIU for a proclamation with regards to these two contracts, so that those matters can be delved into deeper”.
She added its investigation into the Thomson Reuters contract was awaiting responses from Mncube, Van Niekerk and Coetzer before it could be finalised.
At the meeting, it was also revealed that the OCJ’s audit outcomes had regressed from unqualified with no findings — the best possible outcome — to unqualified with findings. The auditor-general also noted inadequate controls over its supply chain, identifying the quality of financial statements and IT as risk areas of concern, while supply chain was noted as needing intervention.
The OCJ is the equivalent of a national department and was established to provide support to the chief justice as the head of the judiciary and the Constitutional Court, but its accounting officer reports to the justice minister on administrative issues.
Besides the conflicted relationship and Matshika’s alleged failure to recuse himself from the bid evaluation process, the investigation also found that he defended Shuping’s company when the evaluation committee wanted to disqualify PKC for failing to quote on all line items advertised in the bid. The tender was also advertised for only 18 days, and not 21 days as required by the National Treasury’s regulations.
It is understood the OCJ now intends to approach the courts to overturn both the PKC and Thomson Reuters contracts. The OCJ has also set its sights on another ICT contract, a R99m deal to provide support and maintenance awarded to a joint venture between PKC and Matupunuka iCT, awarded in 2020. Like the Thomson Reuters award, the contract has also been referred for criminal investigation.
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.