Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu has denied accusations made by her deputy that she overstepped her mark when she decided on the appointment of an unknown IT company to run the GBV Command Centre contact centre.
It is reported that the command centre, previously run by Vodacom, is now being run by an embattled communications company, Brilliant Telecommunications, a company fingered in VBS and City of Tshwane tenders.
According to insiders, Vodacom provided more services to the department at a lesser cost than the current service provider, which is being paid R40 million instead of the R20 million charged by Vodacom.
This was confirmed by deputy minister, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, during an interview with eNCA on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the two officials differed over the GBV command centre contract which allegedly costs the department more than R40 million a month after the new company was appointed as the new service provider.
Bogopane-Zulu said she was never informed about the way that tender was concluded following the termination of Vodacom as the preferred service provider.
“When I learnt about the tender, I said to the DG, guys leave this deal alone. GBVF is a crucial service, you cannot disrupt the service in relation to where we are,” the deputy minister said.
“I do not know what the minister has said but I know the command centre because I built it up and I monitor the command centre.
“The very first time, I wrote to the minister and told her I have issues with the command centre ... The only time I had to is when the submission came to my desk and it was talking about terminating the contract. I was surprised as I did not know and indicated that this must not be at the expense of services,” she said.
Bogopane-Zulu said she was not aware that there was a tender for the command centre awarded to a new service provider -- which came with lesser services than the previous service provider.
This was now costing the department a lot of money, she said, and she felt the need to negotiate a better deal.
Bogopane-Zulu said she was in agreement that a better service provider who could partner with the department could be found.
“I was in full agreement that this should not be at 100% cost to the state. The department does not have the money and the fiscus is under pressure.
“We needed a private sector that was willing to match us rand for rand. We could accept that because that is a partnership,” the deputy minister said.
However, the minister has denied claims that the state’s gender-based call centre has collapsed, saying there were some challenges when the new company took over from Vodacom.
Zulu denied being involved in the selection of the current service provider, saying DGs and other people are responsible for that.
“The Department of Social Development has DGs and DDGs who are responsible for appointing people who provide services.
“I do not interfere with the processes of appointing service providers. In this particular case, I never interfered with it,” the minister said.
Zulu said she is not responsible for appointing service providers, but for ensuring that the command centre operates and meets its mandate.
“Let me be clear. I am not responsible for appointing service providers, but I am responsible for ensuring that the centre operates correctly. Unfortunately the story did not give me an opportunity to answer for myself,” she said.
Early this year, media reports indicated that Brilliant Telecommunications was also awarded a City of Tshwane contract to manage the city’s wi-fi, telephone and radio networks, voice, internet and other services, including the city’s call centre, which is the main contact point for residents in need of emergency services.
But Altron, which provided the services for 18 years, turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to declare the contract invalid. Altron presented evidence that the company was not accredited with Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei, which exclusively supply the key equipment needed for the work.
Attempts to get more comment from the minister’s spokesperson Lumka Oliphant, Brilliant Telecommunications and City of Tshwane were unsuccessful at the time of going to print.
The Star