Williams not yet off the hook – ActionSA
Tshwane mayor ‘has a case to answer on power bid’
ActionSA says Tshwane mayor Randal Williams is not yet off the hook despite being cleared of meddling in municipal processes in the capital’s R25bn power deal.
Williams was cleared of wrongdoing, however, the investigation also concluded that he has a case to answer for having instructed senior officials to endorse a bid proposal by an Australian company, Kratos Consortium, for generating power for the metro.
Williams was investigated after a leaked audio recording surfaced in which he was heard speaking with senior officials in a meeting discussing a proposal for an unsolicited energy tender.
He argued that the city should take the bid for public participation.
ActionSA provincial chairperson Bongani Baloyi said the party welcomes the report but Williams still has a case to answer.
Baloyi said the report looked at an item which the mayoral committee wanted to present to council for public participation.
“The report found that he did not transgress the MFMA and that the process was not an unsolicited bid but a publicprivate partnership.
“But on the part as to whether he transgressed the code of conduct, it is very clear that he has done so. Secondly, he had transgressed the delegations of council.
“Those are very damning findings which we believe when they go to council, council will expand on the entire process. He is not off the hook at all. We as ActionSA will register a complaint against him with the speaker before the end of the week,” Baloyi said.
Tshwane coalition partners, which include the DA, ActionSA, Freedom Front-Plus, ACDP, Cope and the Inkatha Freedom Party, instituted an investigation into Williams’s conduct following the leaking of the audio.
Williams maintained that the proposal was meant to generate 800 megawatts of power over the long term at an estimated direct investment of R26bn by refurbishing two municipal power stations in Rooiwal and Pretoria West.
ActionsSA laid a complaint with the public protector. The parties felt the process should have been subjected to a bidding process.