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Effective Management of Telephone Interpreting Service in South Africa

This briefing notes the challenges faced by TISSA, including non-delivery, fraudulent activities, and under-utilization. It discusses litigation, settlement options, and a recommended course of action to compel the consortium to resolve issues. The summary highlights the benefits of this approach for risk management and governance. The way forward involves evaluating the project for continuity decisions. Concluding, it stresses the importance of evaluating TISSA before making decisions.

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Effective Management of Telephone Interpreting Service in South Africa

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  1. BRIEFING NOTES ON THE TELEPHONE INTERPRETING SERVICE FOR SOUTH AFRICA (TISSA) PROJECT TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE 21 AUGUST 2007

  2. 1. INTRODUCTION Background to the challenges facing TISSA • Non-delivery by the consortium • Fraudulent activities • Poor financial management and reporting • Under-utilisation of TISSA by stakeholders

  3. 2. LITIGATION AND OUT OF COURT SETTLEMENT • After suspension, Golola made an urgent application for that suspension to be set aside • DAC legal team advised an out of court settlement due to technicalities which was signed by both parties • An arbitration was imminent if parties did not agree on way forward

  4. 3. OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO DAC • Dismiss the Consortium on grounds of lack of delivery thus prolonging the settlement process with further legal implications and a risk to discontinue TISSA ; OR • Compel the consortium to resolve problems raised by the Gcabashe Forensic Audit Report and develop a contract that looked after the interests of DAC and of the TISSA service; this would have punished those who performed their duties relatively well putting DAC at risk for more legal battles; OR • Offer the opportunity to a BEE company after a competitive bid leading to a high risk of litigation again involving further cost to DAC.

  5. 4. SUMMARY • Option 2 was recommended for approval i.e to compel the consortium to resolve problems raised by the Gcabashe Audit Report; thus • Risk management would be the responsibility of the consortium’s • Management of TISSA would have an in-built accountability mechanism • There would be no additional financial implications for DAC • TISSA’s governance structure would serve the interests of both DAC as a sponsor and TISSA as a service • Financing TISSA would be simplified and reporting would be timeous • Stakeholders would receive continuous service • Project success would be guaranteed

  6. 5. WAY FORWARD After expiration of contract, DAC thought to appoint new service provider in the interest of continuity of TISSA *Decision to go that route is proving difficult because: • All sites installed since project’s inception consistently and persistently registered low call volumes • The consortium tasked with management of the operation of TISSA could not raise the call volumes for the whole time the service was rendered • Court battles not being over, it would be costly to involve a new service provider • At this stage, It would be prudent to conduct an evaluation to inform the decision whether to continue TISSA or not

  7. 6. CONCLUSION • From the foregoing, we conclude that DAC must be circumspect about any decision that might be taken regarding TISSA before an evaluation of the project is conducted. • Presently therefore, the Department wishes to conduct an evaluation of the TISSA project. • It would be the Department’s prerogative to inform all stakeholders of the outcome.

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