Durban's revenue system is ‘in good working order’

The revenue system is in good working order. This is according to Willy Govender, chief executive of Data World, the South African firm which formed the joint venture Cityworks together with listed Indian company, Ramco, to develop and maintain the system, for the city.

The RMS came under the spotlight recently when documents leaked to the media revealed that an investigation had recommended that a senior city official be charged with unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure in relation to the tender. The report alleged that the tender had been irregularly awarded and that the system still required changes to be legally compliant.

The report further said the project had an initial cost of between R90 million to R150 million but this had risen to R1.1 billion by 2015. It alleged that the official had misrepresented council by putting Ramco forward as the firm for the contract and stating that SmartXchange would be the “vehicle” of delivery when, in fact, the contract was awarded to the joint venture. The city also pays licence fees of approximately R18 million a year.

Govender said the changes that had to be made to the system were “customary with any application” which had to be tweaked according to a business’s needs. “The city had a shopping list of over 100 (changes) and in the final analysis it only ended up being about 50, because after a detailed analysis it was halved,” he said.

Govender said the five biggest changes that had to be made to the system included:

Govender said his firm had connected with Ramco in 2002, when it was scouting in South Africa to explore partnerships with local firms. “We formed a partnership and it first started as a collaboration, and because of BEE requirements we had to form a joint venture,” he said. Govender said the contract had been awarded to Cityworks after “we tendered for it and were appointed on the basis of the tender”.

He said several major firms and SMMEs had also been involved in the project. However, he said he did not have the total cost of the project immediately available. “I am not sure where the R1.1bn comes from, it must have been the total cost of everything, including their software licences for IBM and their consultants,” he said.

Govender said the system was in good working order and there were just “two or three” further changes that needed to be made, which were expected to be completed within the next month. He said these changes related to a request by the electricity department, to the city’s rates rebate, and to a “small charge” regarding the allocation of water meter reading devices.

Govender said the firm had been awarded a three-year tender to provide services for the system. He said the tender had expired. The city had advertised the tender last November, and although three firms tendered for the work, no appointment had been made, he said. He added his firm was currently providing the services “on a month-to-month basis, but that would come to an end soon”.

“With regard to the people who complain the most about the system, I’m trying to figure (out) whether they think another should be implemented, and which one they are pushing for,” Govender said. EThekwini Municipality had not responded to questions at the time of publication. Global CEO of Ramco Sysrems, Virenda Aggarwal, referred a request for comment to Govender.