Local contractors feel sidelined by Eskom
Local contractors claim they have been left battling to survive as Eskom awards tenders worth hundreds of millions to outside service providers.
The Eastern Cape Province Electrical Contractors Forum (ECPECF) alleged that the power utility has given over R500m of a R630m electrification tender to contractors from outside the province. Each contractor stands to make R15m for the services rendered.
Only eight of the required 42 contractors are local, and the ECPECF views this as disadvantaging local businesses and giving preference to outsiders.
Forum chair Deon Vengadajellum said the project was to electrify various rural areas in the province.
He said they had engaged with Eskom and premier Oscar Mabuyane’s office to intervene in the matter.
“Eskom doesn’t want to put their cards on the table.
“We know that 105 people submitted bids for the project and the requirement was 42 contractors for the job. We have learnt that only eight local contractors were selected to be part of the project. The rest are from out of the province.
“Our contention is that local contractors are jobless; their families go hungry while families of those they employ also go hungry. We engaged the parastatal to air our concerns but that didn’t help. We further brought this to the attention of the premier because it can’t be right to boost small business and economic development in other provinces while we remain poor in our own province,” said Vengadajellum.
He said Eastern Cape contractors were not prioritised; they were only considered if there was extra work to be done in an existing contract.
“Eskom has an Eastern Cape operating unit which is meant to develop local contractors, so why are we overlooked?
“We will continue with our diplomatic engagements to have this issue resolved because we can’t go hungry while outside contractors do work on our doorstep,” he said.
The majority of the benefiting areas are in the OR Tambo and Alfred Nzo districts.
Eskom did not reply to questions seeking confirmation of the number of local contractors selected for the project and how much had been budgeted.
In a written response, Eskom provincial spokesperson Zama Mpondwana said: “The matter to address local contractor prioritisation was addressed in a forum with the members of the Electrical Contractors Forum on February 5 2021.
“The invitation to tender for the electrification projects clearly stated that 42 contractors will be contracted based on the scope of work and a panel contract for execution was used.”
Premier Oscar Mabuyane’s spokesperson, Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha, said the premier was attending to this matter.
“The provincial government’s position is that government departments and entities should, as allowed by relevant legislations, support local businesses, especially SMMES, to benefit from procurement opportunities within the province.
“Our priority is also to ensure that businesses owned by previously disadvantaged people are supported to have the capacity and resources to meet the requirements to do business with government,” said Sicwetsha.
He said procuring from local suppliers who met the criteria helped the state create opportunities for local communities when there were projects.
“This also helps to reduce costs of development because local businesses are closer to sites than businesses coming from other provinces. Our priority is enterprise development so that local businesses qualify for such opportunities.
“In the recent school construction project called Asidi, businesses from outside the province that were awarded contracts could not proceed and ended up handing those over to local businesses.
“Government will engage Eskom on this matter,” he said.
Only eight of the required 42 contractors are local, and is seen as disadvantaging local businesses and giving preference to outsiders