Inquiry into SA Weather Service Contracts Reveals Possible Corruption Amid Urgent Tech Upgrades

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) is currently operating with outdated technology critical for forecasting extreme weather events—a situation exacerbated by alleged mismanagement and corruption issues. The current predicament emerged from a leaked report authored by white-collar crime prevention firm XTND, which was hired by former SAWS board chairperson Feziwe Renqe to conduct an internal investigation into the operations of SAWS.

XTND's findings suggest that a flawed procurement process led to the reliance on aging hardware for the country's weather forecasting. Investigators pointed out that the high performance computer (HPC) system used by SAWS, key to predicting climate patterns, is nearly a decade old and beyond its warranty, putting the nation at risk due to unpredictability in climate phenomena.

The investigation report recommends that corruption charges be levied against a senior IT manager at SAWS and an employee from Eclipse Holdings, an implicated service provider. While the accused SAWS IT manager fiercely denied corruption allegations with a reference to a previous Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report, her suspension raises concerns about the depth of the problem within the organization.

Eclipse Holdings' involvement has been contentious from earlier allegations in 2019 that pointed towards corrupt dealings with SAWS's previous CEO, Jerry Lengoasa. Despite these past allegations and an investigation by Morar Inc., which led to a case withdrawn by the prosecution on the disappearance of pertinent reports and tender documents, Eclipse was inexplicably not barred from future contracts.

The urgency of properly securing a new HPC system is made clear by experts like Dr. Happy Sithole, who warned of the dire consequences of the existing system's failure. Moreover, the process has been marred by apparent rigging, as evidenced by documents traced back to Eclipse helping to shape bids tailored to benefit themselves—constituting bid-rigging as per the XTND report.

SAWS's repeated attempt at re-advertising the tender for a new HPC system has been fraught with irregularities, with the National Treasury rejecting the last bid cancellation. Nonetheless, there is a persistent need to upgrade the HPC system, which has been strongly emphasized by both SAWS's acting CEO, Ishaam Abader, and other experts.

The XTND report pointedly critiques SAWS's management, especially the CEO's overinvolvement in tender processes, which infringes on the principle of separation of duties. It calls for disciplinary actions against nearly all SAWS employees associated with the tenders.

As of now, SAWS has cycled through three problematic tender processes with the third—and latest—also presenting irregularities. Despite the mounting urgency and critical need for an upgrade to South Africa's weather predictive capabilities, the matter remains unresolved as the SAWS board and relevant ministries continue to deliberate on the appropriate course of action.