Linking Director information to government personnel and CIPC data

[ZukiswaK]

(Versions of this query from various people including Steven K. Simon E., Zukiswa K and Kirsten P.)

the problem with the CIPC data is that it's just names. It doesn't allow you to build a real understanding of the people behind them, so it's hard to quickly see red flags. For instance you can't see that a director of a company is also a state employee easily unless you google them or use OSINT tools. But searching like this is one director at a time and very time consuming. A way around this would be amazing (BTW, it used to be possible to use pipl.com for free which linked public profiles from LinkedIn and Facebook. It would quickly help to get a sense of who someone was. A little dodgy and like Cambridge Analytica. But the concept was excellent.)

..... even if you can find the details of the company and its directors, it's still hard to find their contact details to follow up with them. The problem with many tender companies is that they don't have public profiles so you cant find their emails etc to ask them about what they are doing. It's harder to get around this. I use multiple sources. Some are subscription services. But sometimes I can find their details online on government documents, such as pdf extracts from the central supplier database which are sitting on the net, or contacts listed in the awarded tenders portal of the etenders platform. The KZN finance department also once had a supplier portal that you could search for contact details (see here:http://www.kzntreasury.gov.za/SitePages/KwaZulu-Natal%20Treasury%20-%20Suppliers%20Database.aspx)