Minister washes hands of tender

Tina Joemat-Pettersson, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister, pledged yesterday to have nothing to do with the upcoming adjudication of the tender applications to run her department’s marine research and patrol ships, the management of which has been plagued by controversy for two years. Pressed at a post-cabinet media briefing about whether she thought it appropriate that Smit Amandla Marine (SAM) should be among the companies bidding for a return of the contract after she had declared it had inappropriately had its contract extended a number of times, she said: “I do not preside over tenders. I am not interested in tenders. [This is] done professionally by the department.”

Last May, however, Joemat-Pettersson attacked SAM, saying the renewal of its contract in 2005 without a tender and again in 2010 and 2011 – and for two months in 2012 – was the closest thing to undermining the rule of law she had ever witnessed. She added that the Hawks were still investigating SAM, but it – and the Sekunjalo Consortium – had the right to tender. It was Joemat-Pettersson who sought the Hawks investigation into the SAM tenders. It was reported at the weekend that the public protector, Thuli Madonsela, wanted Sekunjalo precluded from bidding for the department’s marine patrol and research fleet tender process, estimated to be worth just under R900 million over a period of five years.

Pieter van Dalen, the DA fisheries spokesman, said the minister was “ultimately responsible” for tender procedures going smoothly. She was also required to adhere to the request of the public protector – to exclude Sekunjalo from bidding. If she did not do so, he said: “I will charge her with dereliction of duty and acting in bad faith.” Van Dalen sought the investigation into Sekunjalo, arguing that the adjudication process had been “decidedly dodgy”. Last week, the department announced that Sekunjalo, SAM, Nautica, P&O Marine Services, SVMS and US-based shipping company Tswelopele Ship Management had lodged bids. SAM held the tender for 12 years before Sekunjalo won the preferred bidder status. The latter was to have taken over management last April.

However, Sekunjalo withdrew after a court interdict was brought by SAM, which argued that the process of choosing Sekunjalo as preferred bidder had been irregular. The department later placed the management under the navy for a year, but its contract was not renewed when it became clear that it did not have the capacity to manage and maintain the ships, which include three fisheries research vessels (the Ellen Khuzwayo, the Algoa and the Africana) and four patrol vessels (the Lilian Ngoyi, the Sarah Baartman, the Victoria Mxenge and the Ruth First). Joemat-Pettersson was also asked about the appropriateness of the appointment of yet another director-general to her department, Edith Vries, a social worker and academic at the University of the Western Cape.

Pressed on whether Vries had “zero experience”, Joemat-Pettersson believed the appointment was appropriate because Vries had skills in all three areas included in the department’s responsibilities. Vries is believed to be the tenth person either appointed or acting since Joemat-Pettersson’s appointment in 2009.