By Zuko Komisa
- A R49.8m digitisation deal was referred to law enforcement over vendor access denial.
- Unannounced Pretoria inspections revealed major delays in processing transactions.
- System access is now restored as the department prepares to offboard the vendor.
South Africa’s Justice Department has referred its R49.8 million records digitisation project to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the Hawks following severe service disruptions.
The action was triggered after an unannounced inspection at the Master of the High Court in Pretoria by Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi revealed that staff were unable to process public enquiries because a private service provider had blocked access to digitised state records.
Originally designed to resolve physical storage constraints and streamline document retrieval, the outsourced project instead created significant bottlenecks.
Expressing deep concern over a private entity holding control over public files, Minister Kubayi stated:
“Instead of making it more efficient and faster to render services, the digitisation project is now at the centre of service disruption and service delay. What is more concerning to the Minister is getting feedback that State records are in the hands of a private company that has the power to refuse the department access to such records.”
Although system access has since been restored, enabling staff to clear backlogs, the contract will officially conclude when the transitional arrangement expires on 10 September.
Departmental spokesperson Palesa Rammitlwa confirmed that officials are managing the close-out process, securing the return of data, and reconciling outstanding payments ahead of appointing a successor provider.
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