05:52 GMT, September 7, 2010 Technopark Personnel Group of Brooklyn, Pretoria, has won a R270 000 contract to help Armscor, the South African Department of Defence's acquisition agency, acquire a new chief executive.

Tender 2010/2011/08 Infrastructure, awarded August 31, requires the recruiting agency to render “a recruitment service for the appointment of a CEO for Armscor.”

Armscor in June asked 28 recruiting firms for Requests for Quotation (RfQ) to help it find a new chief executive.

The arms acquisition agency has had an acting CE since November when incumbent chief executive Sipho Thomo fell foul of defence minister Lindiwe Sisulu and Armscor chairman Popo Molefe. Thomo was sacked in January after a disciplinary hearing. He has since taken his dismissal to the Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).

Molefe, who also chairs the governing African National Congress' controversial Chancellor House investment firm says the decision to terminate Thomo's employment was taken “by the highest body at Armscor” and Thomo was advised “to refer the matter externally if he so wishes”.

The charges against him related to his failure advise members of the Board of Armscor of a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans (PCODMV) held in October 2009. “His conduct caused an embarrassment to the Board.” A second charge was the communication “of inaccurate figures to an amount of R47 billion in relation to the escalation costs associated with delays in delivering of [the Airbus Military] A400M. This caused sever embarrassment to the Board and the South African government.”

Thomo was also charged for his late arrival by about one hour for a PCODMV meeting on November 11. He was further charged for failing “to carry out strategic objectives of Armscor as agreed in February 2009, his failure to attend to grievances raised by senior management and also misleading the Board into believing that the matter was resolved.” Lastly, he was also charged with “entering into negotiations with a supplier (AgustaWestland) with an aim of possibly waving contractual penalties to a tune of about R90 million without the Board’s knowledge/approval.”

Thomo was suspended on November 19 and notified to attend a disciplinary hearing on December 10. The hearing was conducted December 14 and 15 with Advocate Nazier Cassim SC presiding. Thomo's services were terminated without notice on January 7. He appealed against termination on January 11, alleging procedural reasons in that the chair was biased in that he did not communicate his decision directly to Thomo and that the penalty was too harsh.


(Courtesy by defenceWeb; First published at http://tinyurl.com/36lbqcv)