Questions over Sol’s tariff campaign
WHILE payments amounting to almost half a million rand were made to two service providers to inform city residents about the proposed electricity tariff, questions have arisen regarding the payments after reports that the work was done in-house by municipal staff.
A report on the appointment of the public relations company is included in the list of deviations on the agenda of this month’s Sol Plaatje city council meeting.
According to the report, a company, Cherry Green Media, was appointed at a cost of R199 890.90 to “disseminate the correct budget information and ancillary matters specifically around the electricity tariffs”.
The second contract was awarded to The Print Zone at a cost of R241 500. This was for the “development and printing of various pamphlets for the mass media campaign on the correct interpretation and implementation of electricity tariffs for 2018/19”.
The aim of the campaign was to support the public meetings intended to clarify the tariffs and five different messages were developed for the purposes of knock and drop at every household.
“The Print Zone was approached to print 300 000 A3-size flyers, with about 60 000 flyers per message, and were authorised for delivery on Monday (June 25) by 6am, targeting people travelling to work and throughout the day up to June 27,” the motivation for the deviation states.
It was pointed out in the deviation report that the supplier still needed to register on the municipality’s financial system.
According to municipal employees, however, most of the work was done in-house, including the pamphlets, flyers and advertisements that were used in the campaign.
“A total of 60 000 flyers were printed in-house by the municipality’s printing department and these were distributed by municipal EPWP workers.”
The employees stated further that Sol Plaatje officials also drew up the advertisements and placed them in various local newspapers, including the DFA, Volksblad and Noordkaap.
“Municipal staff members also conducted the radio interviews on Radio Revival.
“There were about four or five jingles that were run on a daily basis as well as announcements and sessions that were run over the duration of the week.
“These companies were paid R241 500 and R100 980 respectively on July 16 but I am not sure what work they did because the municipality did most of the work in-house. We want to know what exactly they were paid for.”
Municipal spokesperson, Sello Matsie, said yesterday that the entire matter regarding the proposed electricity tariffs formed part of the section 106 investigation being undertaken by the Northern Cape Department of Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta).
“The contract awarded to the public relations company, as well as all other matters regarding the proposed electricity tariffs, will form part of this investigation. All relevant information will be submitted to the investigation team and we await the outcome of this legal inquiry.”
Keobakile Musunse from Cherry Green Media confirmed yesterday that she did the work for Sol Plaatje as stated in the deviation.
“I cannot comment further because the matter is under investigation and I suggest that you wait for the outcome of the pending section 106,” she stated.
Brandon Pienaar from The Print Zone also confirmed that they did work (various designs and printing of flyers) for the Sol Plaatje Municipality. “We, however, would not want to comment any further on the matter as there is an investigation pending.”
He referred queries on the work done to the municipality.
Among the matters that form part of the investigation, as announced by Coghsta, are the mayoral residence, the mayor’s Audi Q7 that was purchased for R1 million and the alleged mismanagement of municipal funds.
The appointment of a public relations company to promote the municipality’s R260 basic electricity levy, where they were apparently paid R1.2 million, will also be probed.
The task team will consisting of officials from Coghsta, the South African Local Government Association (Salga), the Office of the Premier and Provincial Treasury.
Announcing the task team, the spokesperson for Coghsta, Xhanti Teki, said that the task team would determine if any official, councillor or any of their family members and associates, past and present, in terms of the aforementioned company, its directors, shareholders, employees or associates, had a vested interest in the service providers appointed by the municipality.
“The appointment of consultants/service providers with specific reference to the appointment of the service provider who sent out SMSes to households will be looked into as well as whether procedures were followed in terms of supply chain management processes.
“The task team will also investigate whether other consultants/ service providers were appointed without following the proper procedures as per the municipal finance management act.”
The task team was expected to complete its investigation within 21 days.
The inter-departmental task team consists of the following officials:
Mr T Mabija (Provincial Treasury) – chairperson of the panel Mr P Seane (Coghsta)
Ms B Mgaguli (Provincial Treasury)
Mr R Rahlano (Provincial Treasury)
Ms L Lecwidi (Coghsta)
Mr J Blom (Salga Northern Cape)
Ms M Mabotsa (Coghsta) Advocate K Victor (Office of the Premier)