Durban — The DA in eThekwini has intensified its efforts to get answers on 20 refuse collection tenders worth R144 million.
DA eThekwini deputy caucus leader Mzamo Billy said the DA has intensified its efforts to get answers on 20 refuse collection tenders worth R144 million awarded in terms of Section 36 in just 120 days.
Billy said the DA in eThekwini has again written to eThekwini city manager Musa Mbhele, this time requesting he provide reasons for the continued use of the contentious Section 36 of the Supply Chain Management regulations in the awarding of Durban Solid Waste (DSW) refuse collection tenders between October 2022 and January 2023.
In the letter titled, “Use of Section 36 in awarding of DSW refuse collection tenders worth R144.8 million in just 120 days”, Billy wrote that according to eThekwini Municipality’s monthly tender reports, the City recently awarded 20 Durban Solid Waste (DSW) refuse collection tenders worth R144.8 million using Section 36 of the Supply Chain Management (SCM) regulations between October 2022 and January 2023.
“This is of great concern as one would expect that the municipality would plan better and follow the normal competitive procurement process to ensure fairness and transparency and avoid any possible abuses,” the letter read.
It read that Section 217 of the Constitution requires Procurement - When an organ of the state in the national, provincial, or local sphere of government, or any other institution identified in national legislation, contracts for goods or services, it must do so in accordance with a system which is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective.
Accordingly, section 36 (2) of the city’s SCM policy, requires the accounting officer to record the reasons for any deviations and report them to the next meeting of the council, the letter continued.
“In accordance with this requirement and for transparency, can I request that you provide information relating to the reasons for deviations for the following contract number; WS-6993A, WS-6994B, WS-6995C, WS-6996D, WS-6997E, WS-6993J, WS-6994J, WS-6995J, WS-6996J, WS-6997J, WS6972K, WS-6978Q, WS-6977, WS-6973L, WS-6970I, WS-6967F, WS-6966E, WS-6965D, WS-6964C, WS-6963B,” the letter concluded.
In a statement, Billy said Section 36 (2) of the city's SCM policy mandated the city manager document and report any deviations to the council.
“To date, no reasons have been given for the awarding of 20 DSW tenders using Section 36, which has in the past been used incorrectly,” Billy said.
He said that currently, Zandile Gumede, the former mayor of the eThekwini Municipality, and her 21 co-accused, including former eThekwini city manager Sipho Nzuza and ANC councillor Mondli Mthembu, are accused of more than 2 000 crimes, including conspiring to commit corruption, corruption, fraud, money laundering, racketeering, and violating the Municipal Systems Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act. The accusations relate to a R320 million DSW deal that was awarded using the contentious Section 36.
Billy said that just over a week ago, the DA revealed the city recently awarded 20 DSW refuse collection tenders worth R144.8 million using Section 36 in just 120 days for refuse collection, street cleaning, litter picking, and verge removal in eThekwini Municipality hostels, townships, and rural areas.
“The Section 36 tenders were awarded to at least 13 companies, with each getting between R20 million and R31 million. In one instance, a single company received three tenders, one in October for R12 million and two in January for R13.4 million, both under Section 36 of the procurement process,” Billy said.
He said, given no mechanisms to prevent the abuse and misuse of Section 36 have been put in place, the city may be dealing with a repeat of the Zandile Gumede case.
“We have given the city manager seven days to respond to the DA's inquiries; if he does not, the party will submit the questions in accordance with Section 27 of the council rules of order, which must be answered in a full council meeting,” Billy said.
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