MPs want Slomoes’ E12m
LOBAMBA – MPs have recommended that a select committee be chosen to investigate the issue of the E12 million tender awarded to Slomoes Corporation.
The tender had been awarded to the company to provide a local government elections system.
The idea of an inquiry into the tender was brought to the fore by Kukhanyeni Member of Parliament (MP) Malavi Sihlongonyane during the adoption of the reports of ministries’ portfolio committee annual performance reports and budget estimates for the financial year 2023/24 in Parliament yesterday.
The MP, who declared his desire to address some of the issues on the report of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development prior to its adoption, minced no words when he submitted that there was rot in the issuance of the tender.
The legislator said the country found itself engulfed by issues of corruption because there was a lot of rot in government ministries.
The bone of contention from the legislator was that there were three companies who bid for the same tender, but the expensive bidder, whose price was E12 million, was preferred over the two others who would have cost government E1.2 million and E800 000 respectively. The latter, as revealed by the MP, were Wits Tech and the Royal Science Technology Park (RSTP).
Bidding
The legislator said in his investigations on the tender, he found that even though there were three companies bidding for the tender, it turned out that it was actually a single source.
Single source procurement, according to
is one in which two or more vendors can supply the commodity, technology and /or perform the services required by an agency, but the department selects one vendor over the others.
“The ministry opted for the expensive bidder and the others were not even engaged on the tender,” he said.
Referring to the expensive tenderer as company C, Sihlongonyane said his investigation unearthed that the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) together with the ministry, came to an agreement to award company C the tender.
“It leaves a lot to be desired that the tender became a single source; why is that, when there were companies, especially the one that belongs to government, which could have cost a mere E800 000. One wonders if we really need the system because we successfully did by-elections with the help of RSTP, alone,” he submitted.
Asserted
Sihlongonyane said he had a conversation with the RSTP CEO and he asserted that the entity had all the necessary gadgets to get the job done and it boggled the mind that the ministry opted for an expensive bidder when better options were