Marine tender report due next week

There is a week to go before the official release of the public protector’s report into the alleged corruption relating to the marine patrol tender, which was cancelled after initially being granted to Cape Town-based investment and fishing firm Sekunjalo. But a new spat has occurred over the controversial tender this week between the Western Cape Black Business Chamber (WCBBC) and the company that lost the tender, Smit Amandla Marine.

WCBBC secretary-general Mntuwekhaya Cishe said the chamber had asked public protector Thuli Madonsela to include in her investigation the irregular tender awarded originally to Smit Amandla Marine in 2005 and extended in 2010 and 2011, when that company enjoyed fees “of R1.2 billion”, according to Cishe. The tender is for the operation of patrols to protect South Africa’s marine resources. The chamber also said Smit Amandla Marine was “colluding with government officials” in those three years, which it believed cost the taxpayer more than R300 million extra.

The chamber’s allegations reflected earlier comments made by Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson, who accused Smit Amandla of “nothing other than fronting”. During her address to the Cape Town Press Club in June, she launched into a mighty attack on the company, which had lost the tender to Sekunjalo two months before. She said the renewal of the Smit Amandla Marine contract in 2005 without a tender and then again in 2010 and 2011 – and for two months again this year – was the closest thing to the undermining of the rule of law that she had ever witnessed. The last three extensions were under her watch as minister.

This week Palesa Mokomele, Joemat-Pettersson’s ministerial spokeswoman, said she had “no knowledge of a report” from the public protector into the tender, but it is understood that the minister has responded to a preliminary report as this is the normal procedure in terms of interactions with the public protector’s office. DA MP Pieter van Dalen asked for the protector’s investigation into the tender earlier this year, after Smit Amandla Marine won a court interdict against the awarding of the tender. It argued that the selection committee procedures were irregular, which led to Sekunjalo being declared preferred bidder, a status subsequently withdrawn by the department after the court action.

Smit Amandla Marine spokeswoman Clare Gomes said: “After seeking advice from our attorneys, we will place on record to the Western Cape Black Business Chamber our concern that it is regurgitating slanderous accusations involving our company, its shareholders and directors as well as our clients. “We understand that the WCBBC stood to benefit from the award of the vessel management contract to Sekunjalo Marine Services Consortium, which was subsequently withdrawn by [the department],” Gomes said. The spokesman for the public protector was not available for comment, but Madonsela previously said the marine patrol tender report could be expected by August 20.

Sekunjalo said yesterday that it had not been contacted by the public protector. Spokeswoman Cherie Hendricks said: “We welcome and encourage the public protector to investigate the marine patrol tender. We also understand that [the WCBBC] has forwarded to the protector evidence of corruption relating to Smit Amandla and Smit Amandla Marine. We look forward to the protector’s investigation.”