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City scales back section 36 tenders

eThekwini’s audit and risk committee has commended city officials for curbing the amount of money dispensed via the controversial Section 36 tender policy over the past four months. The city’s executive committee was told on Tuesday that tenders worth R46 million had been approved since January using the section 36 policy. Nevertheless, the committee expressed concern that in the first two quarters of the 2012 financial year, more than R1 billion had been dispensed using section 36. The reduction in the use of the policy in the third quarter was in line with city manager S’bu Sithole’s call earlier this year that section 36 tender awards be scrapped or used only in extraordinary circumstances.

Sithole took up his duties as city manager in January. His statement came after an outcry from councillors that the section 36 policy was being abused and certain companies were being favoured. Sithole also told members of the executive committee that the council would no longer tolerate irregular expenditure. Audit and risk committee chairman Sipho Nzuza said the committee’s concern was geared more towards the first two quarters of the 2012 financial year where the use of the section 36 policy as a means of sourcing goods and services “shot up to R1bn”. Auditor-General Terence Nombembe’s latest report on the city, released in January, revealed that R469m had been spent on section 36 tenders in the 2010/11 financial year, down from R1.049bn the previous year.

Deputy mayor Nomvuzo Shabalala said: “In the past … there was a reduction in the use of this policy. Can we get reasons why the use of section 36 had escalated?” Sithole said since the city had put new mechanisms in place, the use of section 36 had reduced to just under R50m in the last quarter. “In those instances we have come to the executive committee seeking prior authority. In a way the use of section 36 is under control,” he said. Nzuza also told members of the executive committee on Tuesday that they were still waiting for the Manase and Associates report.

“We have had a private meeting with the city manager. We need to have sight of the report to assess if there is action that needs to be taken and do an oversight of the report,” he said. Only an abridged version of the Manase and Associates’ forensic report was made available in February.

Source: iol.co.za

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City scales back section 36 tenders

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