Joe Mcgluwa, the ID Spokesperson for Home Affairs, has called on Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to release the forensic audit report on the tender process for the R2.5 billion "Who am I online" project.

The cost of the project, which was awarded to a consortium headed by GijimaAst in October 2007, has since jumped from R1.9 billion to R2.5 billion.

‘The Auditor-General's report to the Portfolio Committee last year proved there was a high probability that allegations of irregularities surrounding the allocation of the tender were true,' Mr Mcgluwa says.

‘However, because there remained a number of loose ends, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Home Affairs Minister at the time, instructed the Auditor-General to go back and conduct a full forensic audit.

‘One year later we have still not heard anything about the outcome of the forensic audit. I find it very difficult to believe that it could take more than a year to uncover the truth,' says Mcgluwa.

‘The longer the Minister and her Department remain silent, the more obvious it is becoming that there is a cover-up.

‘Similar to what the ID has done with regards to the evasive forensic audit report about the Smart Card, I have now submitted a parliamentary question [below] for written reply, asking why it is that almost a year after the audit was requested, it has still not reached the Portfolio Committee for Home Affairs,' Mcgluwa says.

‘The "Who am I online" project has the potential to make the Department's processes faster and reduce corruption. As such, the fact that it is already months behind schedule, while fraudsters are flooding the market with real, but illegally issued passports and identity documents is extremely worrying.

‘The ID is concerned about responses from the Ministry like the one we received about the Smart Card, which was that they had yet to see the audit report because it was still with the Department of Public Service and Administration,' says Mcgluwa.

‘The Minister must not be surprised when we become suspicious of the long delays in the finalisation of these forensic reports and demand answers.'