South Africa: Justice Minister Refers R415M Digitisation Contract to SIU, Hawks

On an unannounced oversight visit to the Pretoria Master’s office following numerous complaints, Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi saw for herself the dysfunction of its IT system. She said the disruption of services at an office that provides “critical support to members of the public” was concerning. She has now asked the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the Hawks to probe the department’s digitisation project. SIU spokesperson Selby Makgotho confirmed the minister’s referral. The minister said she expects “a thorough account of what transpired with the digitisation project”. “Any evidence of misconduct, negligence, corruption or deliberate actions … will be dealt with decisively,” she said. The digitisation project was meant to speed up and improve services. But it has dragged on for years, remains unfinished, and appears to have had the opposite effect on efficiency. Kubayi said the project contributed to service disruptions at courts and Masters’ offices in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. She expressed concern over allegations that the service provider, Veritas Engineering and Project Management Consultants (Pty) Ltd, was “denying” officials access to state records. Veritas systems are implemented across various justice offices within the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, including high courts, magistrates’ courts, labour courts and Masters’ offices. Spokesperson for the minister Palesa Rammitlwa told GroundUp that Veritas sent a letter, apologising for the disruption, blaming “instability within the department’s network infrastructure”. She confirmed that “access to the Veritas portal has been restored” and officials are currently addressing the backlog of transactions. The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJ) said the investigation will probe whether the contract gave a private company access to government records, whether government policies and laws were followed, whether the contracts provided value for money, and whether departmental negligence contributed to the collapse of services. GroundUp contacted Veritas, who referred us to its legal representative. David Vleck of Cox Yeats said it was the first he was hearing on the matter and could only act on instruction. Years of dysfunction Digitisation was intended to address growing volumes of records, limited storage space, slow retrieval of files and poor access to records across the DoJ. The department also wanted to make it easier for people to lodge matters. The project was first significantly disrupted by a September 2021 ransomware attack that took systems offline. While services were subsequently restored, they remained far from satisfactory. Veritas was first appointed in 2022 for off-site storage of physical records together with scanning, indexing and retrieval services. Rammitlwa said Veritas was paid R413.2 million from the 2022/23 financial year to October 2025. The agreement is rate-based with a R49.8 million ceiling for the current period. The contract will end on 10 September. Veritas has given formal notice that it does not wish to extend the contract. Rammitlwa said a new contract will be awarded since digitisation forms part of its approved procurement plan for 2026/27. Government’s ICT failures GroundUp has repeatedly reported on delays at Masters’ offices with digital issues often cited. At the Johannesburg Master’s, for example, lawyers told GroundUp in February that the office was struggling with backlogs, delays and glitch-prone digital platforms. Six months later, we saw that little appeared to have changed . The Johannesburg office remained a “paper fortress”, with files piled on floors and spilling into corridors. Lawyers said systems were frequently offline. There were also allegations that backlogs have contributed to a corrupt “runner” system in which people pay intermediaries to get matters dealt with more quickly, despite services at the office being free. In December 2025, Kubayi said that