Bosasa contract: DA reiterates call for full inquiry

Yesterday the National Commissioner of Correctional Services, Tom Moyane, provided the portfolio committee with a disarmingly frank account of events that led to the extension of the Bosasa catering contract.

We welcome the National Commissioner's candour and commend him for it. However, his explanations left still further questions unanswered.

First, he said that the senior management of the Department of Correctional Services only became aware that the department was able to in-source catering in November 2011. Yet, this contract was first signed applicable between 1 August 2004 and 31 July 2007. It was extended for a year to 2008 because the department was at the time not capable of in-sourcing catering services. It was then extended by another three years because the department was still unable to in-source catering services and it is now being extended yet again for a further year for the same reason.

It is inconceivable that a contract that lasted this long and has been so controversial only received the serious attention of senior management in November last year.

The National Commissioner also mentioned in this connection that the senior management "was told a lie". Who lied to management? About what? And over what period?

He also said that the catering contract applied only to seven management areas, and that in the other areas the department provided food from its own sources. Why is it possible to do it in some parts of the department, and not in others?

Finally, the portfolio committee heard that Bosasa obtains food from prison farms at a lower cost than on the open market. This obviously raises the question of the excessive profits flowing from the contract, since food is provided at less than market prices, the labour is free, and water and electricity are provided by the department. What is it that the department is actually paying Bosasa for - considering that the original three-year contract cost R720 million and the extension for the next year alone is costing R460 million?

All these unanswered questions require further explanation. It is for this reason that the Democratic Alliance (DA) reiterates its call for a full and detailed inquiry into the awarding, re-awarding and repeated extension of the Bosasa catering contract. The Department of Correctional Services must provide Parliament and the South African people with a detailed explanation as to why this situation has been allowed to get to this point. A full commission of inquiry is the only way to ensure that such an explanation is forthcoming.

Statement issued by James Selfe MP, DA Shadow Minister of Correctional Services, February 23 2012

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