ADM mayor grilled over toilet saga
Public protector demands answers over controversial tender
Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s investigation into how the Amathole District municipality unlawfully and illegally awarded the R631m tender to the politically connected Siyenza Group is at an advanced stage.
This, as Mkhwebane grilled ADM mayor Nomfusi Nxawe at her Pretoria headquarters on Monday.
The investigation into the company that produced shoddy toilets was started by Mkhwebane’s predecessor, Thuli Madonsela, but stalled because of budgetary constraints.
On Monday, Mkhwebane demanded to know what the municipality had done to recoup the estimated R220m paid to Siyenza and what action had been taken against implicated officials.
ADM spokesperson Nonceba Madikizela and office of the public protector spokesperson Oupa Segalwe confirmed Monday’s meeting.
“This is a complex investigation which requires substantial resources and time as the public protector must ensure that the final report can stand up to scrutiny,” Segalwe said.
“However, the public protector is doing her best to finalise the investigation.”
In her subpoena summoning Nxawe, which the Daily Dispatch has seen, Mkhwebane said the mayor would have to produce tender advertisements, request for proposal and bid committee minutes, copies of request for deviation and a valid tax clearance for Siyenza.
Mkhwebane also requested copies of minutes of the crucial meeting where Siyenza was introduced to service providers that had already been appointed.
This is the meeting that is believed to have paved the way for Siyenza to take over the implementation of the lucrative pit latrine contract.
Mkhwebane also wanted to know how much the ADM had spent on the project.
The public protector also wanted a report on what ADM had done to regularise this wasteful expenditure as the contract had been declared unlawful in a report.
Her probe comes after a Daily Dispatch investigation lifted the lid on shoddy workmanship and how the company was wrongly awarded the tender. The Dispatch also uncovered the brazen flouting of supply chain management regulations.
Mkhwebane’s investigation is into maladministration, corruption and tender irregularities in connection with procurement and awarding of the tender to the Bongani Mpeluzaowned Siyenza.
When awarding the tender, the municipality used section 32 of the supply chain management regulations, which allows a state organ to procure services of a service provider that provides similar services to another organ of state.
ADM, however, abused some provisions of the section, as it piggybacked on a smaller sanitation contract that Siyenza had in the Northern Cape.
The Northern Cape tender was also cancelled after it emerged that Siyenza’s tax certificate was fraudulent.
The ADM tender was in 2015 declared “unconstitutional, invalid and unlawful” by East London high court judge Sytze Alkema – but to date nothing has been done about the ruling. In another court blow for Mpeluza earlier this month, his multimillion-rand home on the luxurious Blair Atholl golf and equestrian estate near Johannesburg was forfeited to the state.
The National Prosecuting Authority’s asset forfeiture unit applied for a preservation order after it emerged that the property had been bought with the proceeds of fraudulent transactions involved in the ADM toilet scandal.
Public protector is doing her best to finalise the probe