Africa-Press – South-Africa. The trial of a Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) employee, Lizeka Tonjeni, is set to continue in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Tonjeni is accused of accepting a R160 000 bribe from Digital Vibes to further the company’s interests while she was project manager of the contract awarded to it in 2018.
She pleaded not guilty to one count of corruption.
State agency employee accused of accepting bribe from Digital Vibes pleads not guilty
On Monday, the court heard testimony from MISA’s director of legal services, Lufefe Sigcau, who was asked about various minutes of a bid specification committee, which he chaired at the time.
He also helped the court understand how the meetings were conducted and who was involved.
Sigcau also spoke about a service level agreement between MISA and Digital Vibes, but said he was not “personally involved in the signing”.
When prosecutor, advocate Willem Van Zyl, asked if he had ever met any of the directors from Digital Vibes, Sigcau said he met Tahera Mather at MISA’s offices in Centurion.
Last week, the court heard evidence from MISA Free State manager Simon Rapulane, who had spent most of his evidence-in-chief testifying about awarding the contract to Digital Vibes.
During his testimony, the court heard how the company did not meet the requirements for a MISA tender; the R3.9 million contract was still awarded to it.
Rapulane had direct knowledge of the tender because he was chairperson of the bid adjudication committee that effectively signed off on the bid evaluation committee’s recommendation to award the contract to Digital Vibes.
Going through the tender documents, Van Zyl asked Rapulane about specific requirements bidders had to meet if they wanted to be in the running for the tender.
The requirements included that the project leader had to have 10 years’ experience within the industry and hold an honours degree in marketing, public relations, or communication.
If the requirements, which fell under the terms of reference, were not met, Rapulane testified, the bidder could not be appointed.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
