FORMER OFFICE OF THE CHIEF JUSTICE EMPLOYEE AND GIRLFRIEND APPEAR IN COURT FOR ALLEGED FRAUD
Sipho Matshika (51) and his girlfriend Masabata Shuping (45) made their first appearance at the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sitting in Palm Ridge Magistrates’ Court.
They are facing three counts of fraud. Matshika and Shuping were business partners and co-directors of Knowledge Net Consulting (Pty) Ltd, from 2007. Shuping was also the sole director of Pursuit Knowledge Consulting (PKC) (Pty) Ltd. Matshika was employed by the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ) in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) division. His duties involved the drafting of bid specifications for ICT contracts at the OCJ. He was also responsible for recommending the preferred bidder to the Bid Adjudication Committee (BAC).
On several occasions, Matshika was appointed to the Bid Specification Committee (BSC) and Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) for various contracts, because of his expertise. Both these committees play a very important role in that they make recommendations to the (BAC) on the preferred bidder to be appointed.
Pursuit Knowledge Consulting (PKC) (Pty) Ltd, was appointed as the preferred bidder on three occasions, to provide ICT solutions to the OCJ amounting to millions of rands. PKC was appointed to provide Anti-virus solutions after the OCJ experienced a Malware virus attack. In terms of the procurement processes of the OCJ, Matshika was by law, required to declare any conflict of interest in writing, if he’s related to or knows the bidder. Shuping also had a legal obligation, in terms of the SBDM form 4 to declare her conflict of interest, if she knew any person employed by the government, who might be involved in the evaluation of her bid. Shuping denied having any relations with anyone employed by the government in the evaluation of her contract.
The accused signed their warning statement in January 2023 when the investigations were still incomplete. The investigating officer instructed the accused to present themselves at the Germiston Police Station. They were processed and sent to court for their first appearance. The state didn’t oppose their release on bail and bail was set at an amount of R10 000 each.The matter was postponed to 26 September 2023, for disclosure of the contents of the docket.
