Corruption Watch appears in the Constitutional Court today, as a friend of the court, in the case of Allpay Consolidated Investment Holdings (Allpay) and Others v The South Africa Social Security Agency (SASSA) and others.

At the heart of the case is the award of a R10-billion tender by SASSA to a private company, Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) for the distribution of social grants. Allpay, one of the losing bidders, sought to review and set aside the tender in the lower courts, but was unsuccessful. The company has taken the matter to the Constitutional Court.

Corruption Watch has joined the litigation as a friend of the court due to its interest in public procurement. The civil society organisation has received more than 300 complaints from the public alleging corruption and irregularities in public procurement processes. In the course of its investigations into reports of corruption in public procurement, Corruption Watch has found that deviations from public procurement rules are strong indicators of corruption and that evidence of corruption in public procurement processes is often only revealed at a late stage.

The Corruption Watch court papers will be made available at www.corruptionwatch.org.za once the matter is heard in court today.