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The Star reports that the Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SSeta) will be going to court to justify its refusal to disclose information pertaining to a R162-million contract it allegedly awarded irregularly.
The SSeta will square off against the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) at the Johannesburg High Court next week. Outa has sought an order compelling SSeta to disclose information pertaining to the multimillion-rand tender awarded to Grayson Reed Consulting in 2017. The Sandton-based biometrics company was awarded the contract to provide trainee attendance monitoring systems and disburse stipends. This contract was cancelled in 2019, six months before it was due to end and about a year after Outa started questioning awarding regularities. SSeta executives told MPs last year the contract had been mutually terminated. But, Outa maintained that just cancelling the contract was not enough. It called for criminal charges and recovery of the allegedly misappropriated funds. Outa’s Stefanie Fick explained in court papers that they had resorted to court because the SSeta refused to disclose information it needed to prove its corruption and fraud allegations. Outa’s application was brought under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia). Outa maintained that SSeta gave “unreasonable reasons” for refusing to hand it the information requested. In SSeta’s responding papers, chief executive Amanda Buzo-Gqoboka said Outa had been granted access to some of the information, while the SSeta had withheld the remaining data based on Grayson’s submission to it that the information was confidential and would expose its trade secrets. Fick has denied that the information Outa sought was confidential or commercially sensitive.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bongani Nkosi at The Star
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