Mayor denies tender rigging
EThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede assured residents during her State of the City Address (Soca) this week that she will fight the scourge of corruption.
The speech comes after reports that the Hawks were investigating Gumede for allegedly influencing the awarding of tenders to handpicked companies.
It also follows the withdrawal of auditor-general staff from auditing the city’s financial records after they received death threats.
This sparked the intervention of the National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete, who instructed the national minister of corporate governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) to ensure that matters be thoroughly police.
In her maiden Soca address, Gumede said: “When we deal with corruption, we will name and shame all those who steal from the poor.
“We have institutional mechanisms such as the City Integrity and Investigations Unit (CIIU), the municipal public accounts committee and the ethics committee, as well as an independent audit committee, which are in place to provide oversight of financial management and integrity of the municipality.
“Legislation such as the Municipal Finance Management Act also provides us with guidance in this regard.”
She said the CIIU completed 326 investigations over the past financial year and a new disciplinary committee and a blacklisting committee had investigated by the also been formed to deter fraud and corruption.
Earlier this week, Media24 reported that the Hawks were investigating allegations that Gumede was “actively facilitating money laundering, fraud and corruption, allegedly to pay back cronies who helped her political ambitions”.
The Hawks investigation reportedly arises from a forensic investigation by Integrity Forensic Solutions.
Gumede this week declined to comment on the findings of the report and categorically denied the allegation that she had summoned a municipal official to her home to demand that a R25 million tender be awarded to handpicked companies. This was reportedly to hire about 800 chemical toilets for six months. Before this, the city had paid about R3m to hire toilets for three years.
According to online news site Media24, the Integrity Forensic Solutions report stated that an official insisted these service providers be given work to supply the toilets “since they were councillors and political figures who had supported Gumede in her political endeavours and Gumede owed them a token of gratitude in the form of contracts from ethekwini”.
The Integrity Forensic Solutions report was reportedly among documents that were requested last week by the auditor-general’s staff, but municipal officials had refused to hand it over.
Responding to queries, ethekwini spokesman, Mandla Nsele said: “In the case of the chemical toilets matter, an investigation has been launched. However, a report has not been presented to the relevant department for implementation. We cannot respond to the matter at this stage.
“However, we can state that the city also recently blacklisted companies,” said Nsele.
In May alone 42 companies were blacklisted for five years, but subject to appeal.
“Reasons for blacklisting include fraud, corruption, poor performance, directors/members of the company being in the employment of the state and collusive tendering.”
He said the blacklisted companies had been given 14 calendar days to appeal to the Appeals Authority.
The list of previous blacklistings was available on www. durban.gov.za.