Todd has told the state capture commission that initially, the men said they didn’t know each other but later admitted they’re golfing buddies.
FILE: Siyabonga Gama. Picture: www.untu.co.za
JOHANNESBURG – Bowman Gilfillan director Christopher Todd on Thursday said tht then Transnet CEO Siyabonga Gama gave an R18 million security contract to African National Congress (ANC) veteran Siphiwe Nyanda without following procurement processes.
Todd told the state capture commission that initially, the men said they didn’t know each other but later admitted they were golfing buddies.
Then he said he didn’t know that the contract was for Nyanda and he claimed that officials told him that a tender process was done and they gave him documents to sign.
“Everybody agreed, including Mr Gama, that this kind of contract should only be engaged on an open public tender process because there are many security companies out there who can do the work.”
Todd said Transnet cancelled an open tender for security services to make way for General Nyanda Security (GNS) to submit an unsolicited bid and it was given the contract.
Todd said Gama initially said he didn’t know Nyanda but later changed his tune.
“The reason I lied about it is because I thought too much was being made of it. And so, he said, my true relationship with general Nyanda is that we are not close friends, but we occasionally play golf and we called each other for family gatherings. The most recent phone call between them was on 1 December 2007 – four days before Mr Gama signed the contract.”
And GNS didn’t even exist, Todd added: “It had no prior track record and it was not registered with the regulatory authority Sira it was only registered the following year and more importantly, it had no employees.”
Two officials were dismissed with Gama, but he returned as group CEO.
