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Alarm over ongoing Section 36 contracts

The eThekwini Municipality’s “alarming increase” of awarding Section 36 contracts – which allows officials to bypass the normal tender processes – has been flagged by the city’s audit committee with a warning that its aim of achieving a clean audit was in jeopardy. In a report to the executive committee (exco) on Tuesday, it noted that many of the Section 36 contracts awarded in the third and fourth quarter were awarded with no value. “Urgent management attention is required as no tender is to be awarded without value as this promotes irregular expenditure,” the report said. “Nonetheless, the committee noted a significant decline on Section 36 rand value of procurement. The real test is in proper procurement planning and only legitimate use of Section 36 as intended by the legislature,” the report said. It was presented by former chairman of the committee, Peter Christianson, and new committee chairwoman, Londiwe Mthembu.

They said officials continued to award the controversial contracts despite the committee flagging the issue. Mayor James Nxumalo said the city risked a clean audit if the problem persisted. “The audit committee raises these issues, yet we keep bringing them. Any department official bringing a Section 36 must have convincing reasons why…”

Source: www.iol.co.za

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Alarm over ongoing Section 36 contracts

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