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DA storms out of Durban city meeting

The DA walked out of an Executive Committee (Exco) meeting over the ANC's insistence on using the controversial Section 36 of the Municipal Supply Chain Management Act to award tenders. The issue concerned the procurement of maintenance services for city buses. The meeting got heated when the DA refused to note a report which sought to use Section 36 to secure a contract to supply spares and provide repair services. Exco recommended a three-year contract with Voith Turbo (Pty) Ltd to supply spares to the tune of R7.2million. The municipality operates a fleet of 531 buses. The DA cited the abuse of Section 36 in some instances. The section is designed to procure services in emergency cases without going through proper tender processes.

DA Exco member Sharon Hoosen charged that recent controversies including the purchase of metro police dogs and casspirs had been pushed through via Section 36. “This is our oversight role to ensure that the city and the relevant people are held accountable. Prior to this, I have requested a report on the buses. You acknowledge that the report is still outstanding. We can't accept this blanket approval because we don't know how many buses will be attended to in this R7.2m,” Hoosen said. ANC councillor Mondli Mthembu said it would be difficult to say when the report on the buses would be available. Councillor Sipho Kaunda said it was not correct to discuss the section while it had been stated that the report in question would be dealt with at another sitting.

Early last month, the Daily News reported that the ANC majority had voted in support of condoning expenditure totalling R34079576.54 for the 2015/16 financial year, and R33798553.63 for 2016/17. In a report tabled at the council meeting at the time, the municipality said disciplinary action, recovery of money and criminal charges could be instituted where applicable. According to the report, 10 contracts worth more than R25m, which were awarded using Section 36, were deemed to be irregular by the Internal Audit Unit and the auditor-general. The DA walked out before the agenda was completed.

Source: www.iol.co.za

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DA storms out of Durban city meeting

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