Polokwane tender decision questioned

The City of Polokwane’s decision to appoint an outside company to manage the evaluation and awarding of tenders has aroused suspicion among officials. Unhappy council officials likened the new agreement to the On-Point Engineering scandal, through which Limpopo government tenders were dubiously funnelled to politically connected tenderpreneurs. Executive mayor Thembi Nkadimeng told The Star that the council had resolved to rope in the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to oversee the municipality’s supply chain management unit. He said the actual “advisory services” duties would be done by a private company that would be brought in by the DBSA. Part of this company’s duty would be to “advise the bid evaluation committee during the evaluation of tenders”, a council document states.

Nkadimeng said: “As part of what they do in terms of advisory services to government in its entirety, (the DBSA) have got companies that do that, (and) it will release a particular company to come and oversee.” The decision has caused uneasiness among officials. Some suspect that the new company would influence who got the tenders. “They (the politicians) want to take away the powers from municipal officials because they feel they don’t give tenders to their preferred companies,” the source said. An ANC councillor who was unhappy with the new arrangement said this would effectively place the powers to award tenders in the hands of politicians. “This is basically another On-Point (Engineering) situation,” said the councillor, who asked not to be named. On-Point Engineering was appointed by the Limpopo Transport Department in 2009 to evaluate and adjudicate tenders for road maintenance and construction projects. Those roles were later usurped from a state entity, the Roads Agency Limpopo. The Public Protector later found that the contract had been unlawful.

But the City of Polokwane denied that its arrangement had similarities with On-Point. Nkadimeng said the municipality’s officials would still preside over the evaluation, adjudication and awarding of tenders. But she said the company that would be brought in by the DBSA would provide an advisory role. She added that the council had given the DBSA 15 points which required attention. They included realignment of the municipality’s supply chain management policy with the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and training of supply chain management officials. The municipality’s current policy was inconsistent with the MFMA, Nkadimeng said. This had resulted in the irregular awarding of R262 million in tenders in the 2012-13 financial year, she pointed out. Nkadimeng said a recent National Treasury probe had revealed the irregular expenditure. She said all seven directors were implicated in the Treasury’s report.

But on Tuesday, the council decided to suspend only three directors: chief financial officer Fikile Mudau, director of transportation Molatelo Rapetsoa, and director of corporate and shared services California Phanyane. Other directors were spared despite being implicated by the report. “We felt that their involvement was minimal,” Nkadimeng. said. Rapetsoa declined to comment, saying the matter was sub judice. Mudau and Phanyane could not be reached for comment.