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Chairperson of infrastructure committee in eThekwini laments long procurement processes

The chairperson of the eThekwini Municipality’s Human Settlement and Infrastructure Services Committee (HSI) has called for the streamlining of procurement processes, pointing out that finalising a single process could take up to a year.

Committee chairperson and EFF councillor Themba Mvubu said while he was not advocating for the procurement process to be circumvented, the current process was too long and cumbersome. Mvubu was speaking on the City’s video platform on social media, eThekwini Matters. His committee has oversight over 70% of the City’s budget and infrastructure-related services including water, electricity and sanitation.

Recently, the City faced a stand-off with some of its suppliers who complained that the online procurement process the municipality had implemented was difficult to use and they did not have access to the internet. The City eventually backed down from the stand-off and allowed contractors to continue to use the manual system while they were trained on the new system.

Mvubu said one of the biggest challenges that he has identified since taking over the HSI committee was the procurement process. “Ordinarily in this City, it takes anything from eight months to a year to finalise a procurement process, that can’t be, it’s too long with all the challenges that we have,” he said. Mvubu said another challenge the cluster was grappling with is water and sanitation.

The chairperson said he would be meeting with the officials to discuss a turnaround plan to deal decisively with sewage spillages. He detailed an ambitious target saying that while the EFF leads the committee it aims to deliver and eradicate the chemical and pit toilets in the city within a year. Mvubu, who recently raised concerns that he was being undermined by officials in the unit, warned that as long as the EFF leads the committee it would not tolerate any corruption or incompetence.

ADeC councillor Visvin Reddy said he was in support of Mvubu’s call to streamline the procurement process. “The procurement of services or goods in eThekwini is often characterised by laborious processes, hindering service delivery and causing major frustration for residents.”

Reddy said one such instance is the oThongathi water crisis, where residents endured months without water due to the city’s inability to promptly find a service provider to carry out the repairs.

Source: www.iol.co.za

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Chairperson of infrastructure committee in eThekwini laments long procurement processes

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