{"id":4520,"date":"2016-07-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/amabhungane\/stories\/csirs-supercomputer-tender-and-the-theatre-of-the-absurd-that-followed-it\/"},"modified":"2024-09-23T14:36:43","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T14:36:43","slug":"csirs-supercomputer-tender-and-the-theatre-of-the-absurd-that-followed-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/csirs-supercomputer-tender-and-the-theatre-of-the-absurd-that-followed-it\/","title":{"rendered":"CSIR’s supercomputer tender and the theatre of the absurd that followed it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Picture: Naledi Pandor – David Harrison<\/em><\/p>\n

Another state-owned entity is going down the rabbit hole. This time it\u2019s the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), where long-serving chief executive Sibusiso Sibisi can\u2019t decide if he is Lewis Carroll\u2019s Alice or Franz Kafka\u2019s Josef K, but either way he wants out. And Sibisi has delivered a devastating parting shot, effectively accusing science and technology minister Naledi Pandor and director\u00a0general Phil Mjwara of trying to \u201ccapture\u201d the CSIR and meddling in a R116-million tender, allegedly at the behest of ANC treasurer\u00a0general Zweli Mkhize.<\/p>\n

\u201cDear Colleagues,\u201d wrote a distressed chief executive Sibusiso Sibisi in a five-page letter to his staff at the CSIR last week. \u201cRegrettably, all is not well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe past few months have been so surreal that I initially felt like I had been thrust into Lewis Carroll\u2019s Alice\u2019s Adventures in Wonderland<\/em>, but it rapidly became clear that the reality is considerably more unsettling than the eccentric but charming world of Wonderland,\u201d Sibisi wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cA more fitting metaphor is to be found in Franz Kafka\u2019s masterpiece, The Trial<\/em>, in which the protagonist Josef K, a staid chief financial officer of a bank, finds himself arrested and tried for a crime that is never revealed to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Announcing that he would step down this September after 15 years in the job, Sibisi\u2019s remarkable letter mainly deals with his unhappiness over an investigation by minister Pandor into \u201calleged maladministration and corruption\u201d at his CSIR \u2013\u00a0allegations that curiously have never been revealed to him.<\/p>\n

But curiouser still, as Alice might have said, is an account by Sibisi of how director\u00a0general Mjwara allegedly leaned on him by \u201cconveying concerns\u201d of \u201cnamed sources\u201d that the CSIR was not awarding a R116-million supercomputer tender to \u201ca named provider\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sibisi refused to say, but amaBhungane has established he was referring to Pandor and ANC chief fundraiser Mkhize. He did later confirm the \u201cnamed provider\u201d to be Chinese multinational Huawei Technologies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also want to reject the notion that I tried to put pressure on anyone to sway a tender in one way or the other.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In response to questions, Pandor said: \u201cI categorically refute any suggestion of undue influence and have never sought to direct contracting in my department nor in any of the entities I oversee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mjwara flip-flopped before conceding that he phoned Sibisi about the tender. But he added: \u201cI also want to reject the notion that I tried to put pressure on anyone to sway a tender in one way or the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

AmaBhungane tried repeatedly over seven days but could not get a response from Mkhize or his lawyer.<\/p>\n

Huawei denied any knowledge of the alleged interventions.<\/p>\n

Sibisi\u2019s story begins in September 2014, when the CSIR issued a tender for the provision of a high performance computing hardware platform: a very fast computer.<\/p>\n

At the time, the CSIR already had a supercomputer at its Centre for High Performance Computing in Cape Town. This was a 64.44 teraflop machine that could process 64.44-trillion floating point operations per second, or \u201cflops\u201d. The fastest computer in Africa, it was used by private, state and academic researchers to run complex models and crunch huge amounts of data. But demand had increased and the centre sought to upgrade to a 15-times faster petaflop machine, one that could process 1\u00a0000 teraflops.<\/p>\n

“<\/em><\/strong>merely conveying a concern from named sources”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The CSIR\u2019s bid committee evaluated eight bids, two of which relied on a Huawei-based system, and proposed a winner in November 2014.<\/p>\n

But according to CSIR documents seen by amaBhungane, CSIR executives then sought the advice of international experts and lawyers who found that none of the bidders had met elimination criteria and none of the offers was therefore acceptable. The CSIR was advised that it is entitled or \u201ceven bound\u201d to cancel the tender, which it did, and bidders were promptly advised of this in a letter on May 5 2015. The CSIR refused to name the would-be winner.<\/p>\n

That Saturday Sibisi received a phone call from science and technology director\u00a0general (DG) Mjwara who wished to discuss the tender, Sibisi told amaBhungane.<\/p>\n

As reported in the letter to staff: \u201c[Mjwara] was at pains to point out that he was merely conveying a concern from named sources that it appeared that the CSIR was not going to award the tender to a named provider.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sibisi told amaBhungane: \u201cThe DG mentioned the name Huawei.\u201d<\/p>\n

He refused to name the \u201csources\u201d, but amaBhungane was separately told by a person with knowledge: \u201cMjwara told Sibisi that the minister had been asked by ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize to find out from the CEO why the tender was not awarded in a particular way.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview with amaBhungane, Mjwara said: \u201cI got a call from someone wanting to know information about a tender process, which the CSIR was running. I referred the person to the CEO of the CSIR. End of the story; that\u2019s all we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he was concerned that Pandor and Mkhize were asking for information about the tender, he said: \u201cWhy should I be concerned if they are asking about this process?\u201d But he then refused to specifically confirm or deny that the query had come from Pandor and Mkhize: \u201cI think you should ask Dr Sibisi.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mjwara backtracked a few days later when amaBhungane confronted him with new information that he had not simply told his enquirer to call the CSIR but had directly phoned Sibisi himself.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWhen I said I referred the said person to the CEO, I mean any requests for tender issues in our public entities are not part of my accountability as a DG. I phoned him to alert the CEO that there is a request for information whose detail I can’t respond to but am happy to refer the person to him for issues raised as I am in no position to respond to requests on tenders from our entities.\u201d<\/p>\n

“<\/em><\/strong>The DG was reluctant to accept the box…”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Either way, Sibisi was affronted. In his letter to staff, he said: \u201cI pointed out to the DG that his department is where the first line of defence against undue influence ought to reside. It is thus a profound irony that he should find himself acting as a dutiful messenger to convey thinly veiled attempts to subvert our internal procurement processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He wrote: \u201cThere appears to be lack of recognition that the checks and balances of good governance at the CSIR are so robust that even if I wanted to sway a procurement process, I really would not be able to. That is the true nature of power. For you to have it, paradoxically you must first give it away. \u2026 Those who would capture the CSIR would be doing so at the peril of presiding over institutional demise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holding his line, Sibisi told amaBhungane that in the week following Mjwara\u2019s call, on May 15 2015, he visited Mjwara in his office and delivered a box full of procurement documents so that the DG could see for himself how and why the tender had been cancelled.<\/p>\n

Sibisi said: \u201cThe DG was reluctant to accept the box, suggesting that, as messenger, he was not the appropriate person to receive it and that we should rather take the box to the minister.\u201d But Sibisi said he left the box there and departed.<\/p>\n

Later in 2015, the supercomputer contract was awarded to Eclipse Holdings, which used Dell Technology. Emphasising his faith in CSIR processes, Sibisi told his staff: \u201cThe provider was not the one that came up in the conversation with the DG.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why Mkhize and Pandor might have been interested in the success of a Huawei bid is not clear.<\/p>\n

“<\/em><\/strong>Huawei abides by ethical business practices…”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In South Africa, Huawei Technology Africa\u2019s 31% BEE partner is Nulane Investments 88. Nulane\u2019s board is populated by influential figures. One is Yusuf Surtee, once well known as an ANC fund\u00a0raiser and a confidante of Nelson Mandela.<\/p>\n

Another is Sello Paulos Mahlangu who, in 1994, was appointed to head a committee to manage the \u201crationalisation, change and amalgamation\u201d of the police and defence agencies in South Africa, according to an online profile.<\/p>\n

Huawei itself might be of specific interest to Mkhize, given the ANC\u2019s apparent strategic alliance with China.<\/p>\n

But Huawei spokesperson Portia Mvubu told amaBhungane the company was not aware of Sibisi\u2019s allegations: \u201cHuawei abides by ethical business practices, conforms to applicable international conventions as well as laws and regulations of local countries where it operates and operates with integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Nulane director Lester Peteni said: \u201cTo my knowledge there was no attempt by any of the directors or employees of Nulane to approach the minister or any person regarding this bid or any other bid.\u201d<\/p>\n

If in May 2015, Sibisi felt like Alice drowning in a pool of tears, the waters rose for him in February 2016 when minister Pandor wrote to CSIR chairperson Thokozani Majozi. She said she had received allegations from a CSIR employee of \u201calleged maladministration and corruption at various levels within the CSIR\u201d that she would investigate.<\/p>\n

AmaBhungane has seen much of the correspondence that followed in which minister Pandor reveals the source of the allegations to have been a CSIR employee who was on suspension at the time and was ultimately fired. According to Sibisi\u2019s letter, she was fired for misrepresenting her CV in order to secure an executive position.<\/p>\n

“A complete lack of objectivity”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A fortnight after the minister\u2019s first letter, Sibisi told amaBhungane, he met with Pandor and described how he had been \u201cprevailed upon\u201d by Mjwara in respect of the tender. A few weeks later, Pandor wrote back to the chair to say she had appointed a firm called Open Water Risk Solutions to investigate the allegations.<\/p>\n

Headed by former ANC and later South African government spy Ricky Nkondo, Open Water styles itself as a corporate risk management firm. Its engagement with the CSIR is being led by its forensic accountant Peet Pieterse, whose earlier work was reportedly torn apart by an East London judge.<\/p>\n

That was in 2005. According to media reports at the time, Pieterse\u2019s forensic report was the basis of a fraud case against three former Eastern Cape Development Corporation executives, including now deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas. Judge Dayalin Chetty found that Pieterse\u2019s report demonstrated \u201ca complete lack of objectivity\u201d and was based on an \u201cerroneous interpretation of the applicable legislation\u201d and other inaccuracies. The executives, widely believed to have been the victims of a witch hunt, were acquitted.<\/p>\n

In his letter to staff, Sibisi stops short of accusing Pandor of targeting him for his recalcitrance, but within days of her appointing Open Water, he politely handed in his notice to chairperson Majozi, saying: \u201cI would like to indicate that, after 14 years and 9 months on the trot, I intend to take a much overdue sabbatical to rest and consider new opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chief among Sibisi\u2019s concerns is that Open Water refused to detail exactly what accusations had been made. After first agreeing to provide the CSIR with written questions, Pieterse backtracked saying he had consulted with \u201cmy principal\u201d and \u201cthat the department takes a dim view on the arrangement to obtain the required information by means of correspondence\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Curiouser and curiouser\u2019, young Alice might cheerily have declared, but Josef K would have had good reason to be considerably more sombre,\u201d Sibisi told his staff.<\/p>\n

“I demurred…”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Faced with serious allegations and a \u201crefusal by any of the parties to reveal the details of the alleged misconduct\u201d, Sibisi told staff that he appointed lawyer Tebogo Malatji to assist the CSIR. This, he said, caused \u201cuntold consternation. How can we appoint an external lawyer when we have been instructed to accede to individual interrogation by the minister\u2019s external consultant?\u201d<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe Malatji appointment drew the director\u00a0general, Dr Phil Mjwara, into the fray. The DG, who pleaded lack of familiarity with the issues having reportedly been sketchily briefed by the departmental legal adviser, nonetheless prevailed upon me to withdraw Mr Malatji\u2019s services. I demurred \u2013 politely, I like to believe, but emphatically.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI am deeply saddened that matters have come to such a dramatically sorry pass between the minister and the CSIR and I am dumbfounded by it all \u2013 in particular, the apparent belief that a right to legal representation in the institutional interest can be curtailed by ministerial decree. It raises a fundamental divergence of views regarding the relationship between authority and power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to respond, Pandor told amaBhungane: \u201cMy office received a protected disclosure from an employee of the CSIR and proceeded to initiate an investigation as is required by legislation. Thus far, the investigation has not been able to proceed due to areas of disagreement as to approach despite assurance of support and assistance by the chair of the CSIR board.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe comments said to refer to me as a \u2018named source\u2019 occur in this context only\u2026 I have also never acted for any third party as suggested by the scurrilous letter of the CEO of the CSIR.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concluding his letter, Sibisi told his staffers: \u201cI will personally be moving on in three months when my third contract comes to an end. I do not doubt that I will leave behind a resilient organisation that will survive the necessarily transient turbulent times and recapture the quiescence that is essential to ensure that the CSIR does indeed deliver \u2018Our Future Through Science\u2019. All the best to you all, Sibusiso Sibisi.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\nThe amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism produced this story. Like it? Be an amaB supporter<\/a> and help us do more. Know more? Send us <\/em>a tip-off.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a letter, Sibusiso Sibisi reveals a probe by Naledi Pandor into “alleged maladministration and corruption” – claims he’s says he’s never heard of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22507,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4520"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30720,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4520\/revisions\/30720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}