A senior business executive from the Lefatshe Technology and a senior Home Affairs official were arrested in Centurion on Tuesday, 10 August and are now in custody following a successful joint sting operation launched by the South African Police Services’ Hawks and the Home Affairs Anti-Corruption Unit.
The two persons, namely Coltrane Nyathi (Senior Lefatshe Executive) and Hilitha Nkosana (Chief Director-Infrastructure Management-Home Affairs) have already made a court appearance on Wednesday, 11 August in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crime Court on charges of corruption where they were remanded in custody until Monday 16 August where they will apply for bail.
The corruption charge arises from an alleged attempt by the senior business executive Coltrane Nyathi to hand over R200 000 (two hundred thousand rand) to the senior Home Affairs official Hilitha Nkosana with a view, allegedly, to influence him to act unlawfully and to the benefit of their company.
Lefatshe Technology was awarded a tender by the Department of Home Affairs to supply security systems such as the anti-virus programming for the department’s IT and computer systems. In terms of this tender, Lefatshe Technology has successfully concluded phase one of the contract as awarded.
However, problems arose in the contract due to failure by Lefatshe Technology to meet the required standards in delivering on its mandate. Accordingly, the department was left with no option but to put a halt to the contract.
It is this decision by the Department of Home Affairs, it is believed, that may have allegedly prompted the two persons to act in manner described above, with a view to restoring the contract to Lefatshe Technology.
Both the SAPS’ Hawks and the Department of Home Affairs subscribe to the principle of assumption of innocence until proven guilty. Since the matter is now before our courts of law and therefore sub-judice, both the SAPS’ Hawks and the Department of Home Affairs will not comment any further on the merits of the case until the matter is finalised by the courts of our land.
However, the sting operation by both the SAPS’ Hawks and Home Affairs Anti-Corruption Unit communicates a positive message that the government remains committed to rooting out corruption in all its manifestation in our society in general and government departments in particular.
In this regard, General Anwar Dramat wishes to emphasise that only through working together between the police and government departsments can we effectively deal with the scourge of crime and corruption. Accordingly, those who still harbour ambitions of manipulating tendering systems in government departments such as Home Affairs better be warned of the dire consequences that such actions will bring to bear on their persons.
In line with directives of government in general and our respective Ministers of Home Affairs and Police, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and Nathi Mthethwa in particular, we commit ourselves to leave no stone unturned in our endeavour to rid our country of the scourge of corruption. It is our conviction, however, that only a tiny minority of people continue to benefit from acts of corruption. In this regard, we will spare neither strength nor effort to ensure such culprits ultimately face the full might of the law.
The majority of the people of our country continue to earn their living through hard and honest work. It is this great majority of our people, whom we are privileged to serve in different capacities in government, that inspire us to do everything in our power to deal a massive blow to acts of corruption, without fear, favour or prejudice. We cannot allow a tiny minority among us to reverse the gains and hard-won freedoms for which the majority of our people struggled for and for which so many laid down their lives.
Unless we act and act decisively against acts of corruption, the confidence of the great majority of our people in processes of governance will be undermined whilst creating a negative image of our country abroad. Let us all join hands in dealing this scourge of corruption a decisive blow in defence of our peace, freedom and democracy.
Source: Department of Home Affairs
Joint Home Affairs and South African Police Service (SAPS) statement on the arrest of a senior business executive and a Home Affairs official in Centurion
