Joburg faces dark days as City Power’s R1.5 billion maintenance tender ends in court

The R1.5 billion tender conundrum at City Power has set tongues wagging as Joburg residents fear for darker days.

This comes after the power utility company failed to disclose its stance with labour contractors much earlier despite the September court ruling deadline hanging over its head. That court ruling, which was delivered by Judge Frank Snyckers, stated that City Power must embark on emergency procurement for labour contractors using a closed list of bidders that have already been assessed.

Judge Snyckers called for the emergency process to be completed by last month and that the companies currently responsible for the contract must continue as an interim measure. The multibillion-rand tender is meant to be distributed among 60 labour contractors responsible for outage maintenance repairs. Some areas of Joburg were plunged into darkness over the weekend.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena confirmed that all labour contractors were awarded with appointment letters and that they have complied with the court ruling. “Some of the contractors are already involved in the repair and replacement of the electricity network that was damaged by the storm over the weekend,” he said. Mangena also clarified that the companies are not deployed into the City Power’s electricity network at the same time.

“They are all contracted on an ‘as and when’ basis, meaning they are used on a shift system as and when an emergency repair work is required on the electricity network.” The Star understands that the awarding of the tender to contractors should have been finalised months ago but a losing bidder argued that the bidding process was flawed and decided to take legal action against the power utility.

The power utility’s decision to place chief executive Lerato Setshedi on special leave and the Covid-19 pandemic has also proven detrimental in finalising the tender with the contractors. Setshedi had picked irregularities before the awarding of the contract. City Power had approached the high court to allow it to re-advertise the contract before Setshedi was placed on special leave in June.

Mangena refused to comment on Setshedi’s special leave and the irregularities that were discovered in the awarding of the tender. Meanwhile, the power utility’s delay to appoint contractors has caused tensions between political leaders. The DA’s Nicole van Dyk expressed her frustrations with the power utility. “As it stands right now there are not nearly enough teams to cope with outages across the city. Additionally, City Power has failed to adequately resource its teams,” she said.

Van Dyk also accused the utility of doing nothing but watch with “voyeuristic intention”. “It is with much sadness that yet again residents will find themselves at the mercy of failed and irregular deals of the governing party that benefit no one but those in power with power. Hard working contractors who are now left jobless and residents who seek nothing more than basic dignified service delivery are left powerless.”

Environment and Infrastructure Services MEC Mpho Moerane was quick to hit back, stating that City Power has not failed to appoint contractors. “To this effect some of the contractors who have already been appointed are working on some of the existing power interruptions side by side with our teams.”