Auditor-general’s report uncovers rot in City of Joburg

Procurement regulations flouted, nepotism noted

The City of Johannesburg has procured goods and services above R200,000 without inviting competitive bids and some of the owners of the contracted companies were relatives of municipal employees.

According to the office of the auditor-general (AG), the city deviated and violated the supply chain management regulation, read the report it submitted to the city and Gauteng provincial legislature recently.

“Some of the goods and services of a transaction value above R200,000 were prothe cured without inviting competitive bids, as required by SCM [supply chain management] regulation 19(a). Deviations were approved by the accounting officer even though it was not impractical to invite competitive bids, in contravention of SCM regulation 36(1). Similar noncompliance was also reported in the prior year,” said the AG.

The AG’s office further said the performance of contractors or providers was not monitored on a monthly basis, as required by section 116(2) (b) of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).

“Similar noncompliance was also reported in the prior year. Awards were made to service providers who were in service of other state institutions or whose directors/principal shareholders were in the service of other state institutions, in contravention of MFMA and SCM regulation.” The AG said employees of the municipality whose close family members had a private or business interest in contracts awarded by the municipality failed to disclose such interest, in contravention of SCM regulation 46(2).

The report was supposed to be tabled in council last week.

Municipal spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane said the city would not be commenting on the contents of the report at this stage as it had not been tabled before council.