The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has welcomed The Special Tribunal ruling ordering System Applications Products (SAP), a leading global provider of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, to pay the Department an amount of R81.5 million within 5 court days from Thursday.
The settlement arises out of the applicants (SIU and the Minister of Water and Sanitation) having reached final settlement on the remainder of the disputes and matters between them, relating to license agreements between 2015 and 2016.
In 2015 and 2016, the Department of Water and Sanitation paid SAP an amount of R413 121 283.40, but the Tribunal ruled that the two agreements did not comply with the provisions of the Constitution, the Public Finance Management Act, Treasury Regulations or the Department’s Supply Chain Management policies.
In March this year, The Tribunal ordered SAP to repay more than R400 million to the Department after it set aside and declared two software license and support agreement contracts worth more than R1billion between the Department and SAP invalid.
In a statement, the department said that the parties have agreed that SAP will pay R263 million, and the remainder of the amount that was in dispute would be determined by The Tribunal.
The SAP has also agreed to pay the full outstanding amount (R81.5 million) within five court days. Consequently, the agreement will extinguish the dispute between the parties and the matter will be finalised.
BUSINESS REPORT