The High Court in Pretoria has reviewed and set aside the South African National Parks (SANParks) decision to award a 10-year, R1 billion ICT tender to IT services firm Gijima.
The court found the tender process to be flawed and ruled in favour of Datacentrix, which had previously held the contract and challenged the recent award.
The dispute arose from SANParks’ tender number GNP-005-23, issued on 4 September 2023 and closed on 31 October 2023.
The tender was for the outsourcing of SANParks’ ICT services, covering more than 100 sites nationwide.
SANParks, the government body established in 1926 to manage South Africa’s 22 national parks, is constitutionally obligated to follow fair and transparent procurement practices.
In 2019, Datacentrix was awarded a five-year contract by SANParks to fully manage its network and infrastructure services.
This contract expired in 2024, at which point the new tender process began. On 13 February 2024, SANParks awarded the new contract to Gijima.
Datacentrix, one of the seven bidders, challenged the award through a Promotion of Access to Information Act request and subsequently filed a formal review application on 17 April 2024.
The company argued that Gijima had failed to meet the tender’s key mandatory requirements.
According to court documents seen by ITWeb, Gijima submitted audited financial statements for only the 2020 and 2021 financial years, omitting the 2022 statements.
Datacentrix contended that this omission should have disqualified Gijima, as the tender required three years of audited or independently reviewed financials. Four other bidders were disqualified on similar grounds.
There were seven bidders, namely: Reikemetse Projects, Datacentrix, Wire Speed System, Gijima Holdings, NEC XON Systems, Try Lil Bytes-Themolo JV and Business Connexion.
Datacentrix also pointed out that Gijima’s bid lacked a staff member with a certification from the Linux Professional Institute, another mandatory requirement.
Judge Mandlenkosi Motha noted in his ruling: “To me, Gijima fell short of the checklist and ought not to have proceeded to phase two [of the evaluation].”
He questioned why Gijima was treated differently from other disqualified bidders and criticised SANParks for suggesting that only one audited financial statement was necessary.
“How is it that Gijima was held to a different standard? This is nothing short of disgraceful conduct,” he said.
“The decision to award the tender to the second respondent [Gijima] was not in keeping with the dictates of the Constitution, and it would not be far off the mark to characterise the tender process as being shambolic. Ultimately, this entire tender process was not in accordance with a tender process that is fair, equitable, transparent and competitive.”
Judge Motha emphasised the gravity of the issue, remarking: “Before this court is a titanic battle for the South African National Parks tender, worth just about R1 billion.
“Blissfully unaware of this existential threat are the lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceros and cheetahs, to name but a few affected animals. I am convinced that if these animals had a say in the matter, no one would be before this court.”
The court has now ordered that Datacentrix continue to provide services to SANParks for a period of 12 months, under the same terms and conditions as the agreement concluded in February 2019.
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