Johannesburg - Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams’s husband Thato Abrahams has been embroiled in allegations of interference at the State Information Agency (Sita), which is overseen by his wife.
In a whistle-blower’s dossier, which Independent Media has seen, Abrahams is said to have close ties with the Sita’s administrator Luvuyo Keyise.
Keyise was appointed by Ndabeni-Abrahams soon after she dissolved the Sita board.
Keyise, who is also serving as caretaker executive at the embattled institution, was behind some of the major decisions at the agency, claims the document.
Sita spokesperson Anthea Summers said: “Sita as an organisation will not comment on the personal relationships of Mr Keyise Sita is a company, and as such cannot have any personal relationships with any individual.”
She said that Sita follows all due processes, legislation and governance procedures in terms of procurement protocols and supply chain management.
“Sita executes its business through formalised business processes and procedures that are dictated by the relevant legislation including the Sita Act, Companies Act and Public Finance Management Act,” she said.
Within Sita circles, it is also suspected that Abrahams is working closely behind the scenes with Sita to identify companies that have been granted, or are in line to receive IT-related government contracts.
According to the whistleblower, the patronage party between Sita and Abrahams continued when telecoms company Vodacom received an RT15 contract to supply tablets, mobile devices and e-Learning materials to the Eastern Cape Department of Education through the Eastern Cape Department of Economic Development.
Sources at Sita say Abrahams has a close relationship with the telecommunications giant.
In a response to questions, Abrahams said: “I would like to put it on record that I don’t have any business dealings with Vodacom, Sita nor any other player in the Telecoms space.
“I would really appreciate it not to be dragged into Sita and its service providers squabbles.”
Ndabeni-Abrahams responded: “I know nothing of these baseless allegations and I would urge you to ask your sources to provide evidence of your allegations.”