Canadian media conglomerate Thomson Reuters has called for the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ) to retender a multimillion-rand IT contract to provide evidence-sharing software to courts.
Thomson Reuters provides courts in Gauteng with its CaseLines cloud service, which allows judges and lawyers to upload and share documents and evidence easily. The pilot phase of the system was introduced in 2019, and Thomson Reuters was awarded a full contract in December last year.
In mid-June, the Sunday Times reported that a local company formed by three former top officials from the Office of the Chief Justice had been appointed as a subcontractor on the CaseLines contract.
Nathi Mncube, the former head of court administration and spokesperson for the OCJ, said at the time that he and his colleagues Casper Coetzer and Yvonne van Niekerk had done nothing wrong as their contract only began after their employment with the OCJ ended.
Mncube, Coetzer and Van Niekerk set up their company, ZA Square Consulting, in mid-December 2021, shortly after Thomson Reuters was awarded the CaseLines contract.
Investigations
Following the Sunday Times report, the OCJ and Thomson Reuters both announced investigations.
Thomson Reuters said on Tuesday that the "proper path forward" would be for the OCJ to retender the contract in an "open, transparent and competitive process".
The group said it had suspended all work with the former OCJ officials and was seeking legal advice on terminating the contract. The OCJ did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
"We believe the investigations into the situation must continue so that any wrongdoing is properly, and thoroughly addressed and appropriate actions are taken," said Thomson Reuters.
"Our commitment to the people of South Africa is that as a company, we will do our part to assist in the ongoing investigations so that any and all wrongdoing is addressed."