Outa takes aim at Sentech over ‘rushed’ set-top box tender

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has taken aim at Sentech over a tender for the installation of digital television set-top boxes, warning that the state-owned company is trying to ram through the “massive” contract with indecent haste.

Outa said in a statement on Friday that Sentech is “signing up installers on a three-year deal that could be worth more than R300-million” and is doing so “at the last minute”, a week before the national deadline to switch off analogue broadcasts countrywide.

The tender, Outa said in its statement, was advertised for only three days, a move it warned raises questions about possible procurement-related graft. It accused Sentech of rushing through the tender “without the necessary transparency and appropriate advertising”.

“We do think that this points to possible serious irregularities, as [national] treasury’s procurement regulations require adverts to run for at least 21 days,” said Outa executive director Stefanie Fick. “This is how we believe corruption takes place: someone may sneak in a huge tender with a very limited public view, so only the bidders who are tipped off to see it bid.”

Outa did not provide any evidence of corruption related to the tender. TechCentral has asked a Sentech spokeswoman for comment on the allegations and will update this article once the company has responded.

“At least five million poor households are supposed to have been given free set-top boxes so they can continue watching on the digital signal, but this programme has largely failed, and government is now simply turning off the analogue signal. By early February, five provinces had been switched off, leaving poorer households in the dark,” said Outa.

No briefing session

“It is difficult to argue that this tender is ‘urgent’, as this project has been going on for years, and the deadline of 31 March has been publicly known about for more than a year.”

It said that although the tender advertised is for three years, there has also been no briefing session for potential bidders, further raising suspicions.

The tender is for the installation of digital set-top boxes in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. “The tender documents offer payment of R350 to R670 per installation, with the set-top box units being supplied by the Post Office. There’s no indication of how many households will be included,” Outa said.

eMedia Holdings, the parent of e.tv, has taken communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni to court over the analogue switch-off, saying government has failed to deliver set-top boxes to indigent households as promised, leaving free-to-air broadcasters in the lurch. Judgment in the matter is expected to be handed down next week.

Government has given no indication that it intends to postpone the analogue switch-off date of 31 March.  – © 2022 NewsCentral Media