Ekurhuleni COO implicated in TS Records R4 million tender saga

Ekurhuleni municipality’s chief operating officer (COO), Lesiba Joe Mojapelo, is in trouble for deviating from the supply-chain policies to award the now-defunct TS Records a R4 million “tender” to market the council’s 2010 Fifa World Cup activities.

Mojapelo is fingered in a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report as having used his powers as the then project manager of the municipality’s 2010 World Cup Legacy Projects to ensure that the record label, then owned by Thembinkosi “TK” Nciza and Sbusiso “DJ Sbu” Leope, landed the lucrative contract in 2008 without going through the tender process.

Nciza is the ANC’s regional secretary in Ekurhuleni. According to the report, which was handed to Gauteng Premier David Makhura and Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina two months ago, the label was to provide the council with overall marketing and communication strategy of its tournament activities. Masina, who is the regional chairperson, was not mayor at the time.

The Star understands that the documents have not been made available to other senior members of the council but its contents are set to be discussed in a special council meeting to be held soon. The report recommends disciplinary proceedings and civil or criminal charges be instituted against Mojapelo “for his role in the appointment of TS Records by way of an unjustified deviation”.

The report says there could be further recommendations “once the Office of the Public Protector has concluded its investigation, especially as they have been provided with the SIU report signed by the president (Cyril Ramaphosa)”. Mojapelo had resigned as project manager of the municipality’s legacy projects in 2011 when the matter was being investigated, and rejoined the council as COO last year, but failed to disclose the TS Records saga he had left unresolved.

His alleged failure to disclose led to the EFF contesting his appointment. According to the report, councillor Izak Berg had received an anonymous letter alleging that the company had been paid R4m between March and April 2009 and that Mojapelo’s office utilised paragraph 36(1) a (v) of the supply chain management (SCM) policy to deviate from normal procurement processes in appointing TS Records without justifiable grounds for deviation.

The act allows officers to effect deviation in cases of emergency, where goods or services are produced or available only from a single provider. In a meeting held on September 17, 2008, the bid evaluation committee approved the deviation, citing maximum returns on marketing and access to 2.7m listeners of UkhoziFM’s Ezasekseni Breakfast Show hosted by Leope at the time. However, the SIU says these reasons were not sufficient to warrant a deviation.

“Its (TS Records) appointment was made in a situation where exceptional circumstances did not exist for the accounting officer to dispense with official procurement processes,” said the report. “The deviation was dated 21 months before the 2010 World Cup. There was nothing to indicate on TS Records’ company profile as attached to the deviation that its service offering set it apart from other record and promotional companies. It did therefore not appear that this was an exceptional case where it was impractical or impossible to embark on a competitive bidding process,” according to the report.

Nciza said he would only comment once he gets access to the report. Leope could not be reached for comment. Mojapelo did not reply to text messages sent to him on Wednesday and Thursday. However, The Star is aware that he has approached the court to have the report set aside. Ekurhuleni spokesperson Themba Gadebe said the report had not been tabled before the council.