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A company currently under investigation for allegedly overcharging the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission (ZEC) millions of dollars for voting devices and other election-related items is among five firms bidding to print South Africa’s new driving licence cards.
After a long silence over the procurement of a new driving licence card machine, the Department of Transport (DoT) issued a statement in early June 2024 revealing that it was “almost at the brink of pronouncing a new dawn in the driving licence card environment”.
The DoT said the evaluation and adjudictation of the bid for the new printer was completed and that the process was undergoing standard and required auditing.
It revealed that it had received five bids to handle the printing from the following companies:
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Ren-Form Corporate Print Media
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NEC XON Systems
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Muehlbauer ID Services GMBH
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Gemaltro Altron Fintech Southern Africa
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Idemia Identity and Security — South Africa
The first name on that list might be familiar to those who have kept up with recent reports regarding the voting management devices (VMDs) used in the country’s last two elections.
Johannesburg-based Ren-Form is the company that supplied the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) with the VMDs, which were intended to become a single replacement for the so-called zip-zip barcode scanners and physical voter’s roll.
The IEC described the VMDs as a “game-changer” and spent R566.1 million to acquire 40,000 of them for R14,000 per unit.
However, the devices suffered technical issues in both the 2021 local and 2024 general elections, causing delays at voting stations.
In the 2021 elections, they supposedly had connectivity problems despite the IEC stating that the VMDs could function offline.
In this year’s elections, the VMDs again malfunctioned, forcing election officials to switch back to the physical voters rolls.
Ren-Form blames IEC’s software
Ren-Form has disputed the accusations that the devices themselves were responsible for the voting delays in a statement by its CEO Tommy du Sart.
“Ren-Form’s contract was for the supply of hardware only which comprises a rugged tablet in a carry case,” the company said.
“The devices were not supplied with any pre-loaded software or applications.”
“Ren-Form has no knowledge of how the device software was developed and integrated onto the VMDs as it falls outside of the scope of the services it rendered in terms of the contract.”
The IEC has acknowledged that this could have been the cause of the latest issue, but its business division is still looking into the matter.
While Ren-Form might not be to blame for the VMD’s malfunctioning, it faces more serious accusations concerning another deal for election-related equipment in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating money laundering and abuse of office in a $40-million (R732.96-million) tender that Ren-Form secured to provide the ZEC with biometric voter registration hardware and election-related items.
This was first revealed by independent media platform The Newshawks and subsequently reported by Open Secrets, The Sentry, Daily Maverick, and News24.
According to the reports, leaked documents allege that Ren-Form inflated the price of the kits, ballot papers, and portable toilets while using controversial businessman and convicted fraudster Wicknell Chivayo as an agent to secure the deal with the ZEC.
Chivayo allegedly has close ties with Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Wicknell Chivayo (left) and President Emmerson Mnangagwa (right)The ZEC has denied anything ontoward in the contract or that it secured the materials through Chivayo or two other businessmen — Moses Mpofu and Mike Chimombe — who were also linked to the tender.
Newshawks has refuted this and criticised the ZEC for skirting around the alleged crcommittedmited by simply denying any formal contracts, which would themselves have proven fraud was committed.
The publication provided a detailed account explaining how the trio went about facilitating the deal between Ren-Form and the ZEC through a number of meetings and interactions with various roleplayers.
Many of the accusations are based on a series of WhatsApp voice notes, allegedly by Chivayo, which were leaked by Mpofu and Chimombe.
The pair is demanding that Chivayo pay an outstanding amount of $10 million for their assistance in business deals.
Chivayo has denied the authenticity of the voice notes and said he had reason to believe they were generated using “sophisticated technology”.
He labelled Chimombe and Mpofu as “struggling briefcase businessmen” who were “overzealous extortionists and fraudsters”.
While Chivayo has also denied any contract between him and the ZEC, he has not refuted his alleged role as an agent for Ren-Form.
Ren-Form sales director Jean-Pierre du Sart has denied the allegations regarding the ZEC contract.
In a letter to the ZEC, the company also denied that it knows Chimombe and Mpofu. It did not say anything about its alleged relationship with Chivayo.
A photo obtained by ZimLive appears to show Ren-Form’s international business development executive Angus Carlaw posing with Chivayo and Mpofu.
MyBroadband contacted Ren-Form for comment on the allegations about the ZEC contract but did not get feedback by publication.
Wicknell Chivayo (left) posing with Ren-Form’s Angus Carlaw and Moses Mpofu. Credit: ZimLive SOURCE:Corruption-accused company wants to print South Africa’s new driving licence cards – MyBroadband
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