Mystery gang destroys tender box

City scrambles to find culprits who vandalised property

ETHEKWINI Municipality has cancelled the process of awarding contracts for crucial services after the tender box at its offices was vandalised on Friday.

A group of disgruntled people damaged the box and seized confidential documents at the city’s engineering building, at the Old Fort Complex. The motive is still unknown and there were no objections launched, the municipality said.

According to a witness, the group of less than 10 walked into the foyer.

“They went straight to the box, just like anyone who comes to the office to submit their documents and broke it down. Some ripped the documents and threw them on the floor on their way out,” the witness said.

The wooden box was placed next to the automatic main door at the foyer. The security guards were unable to stop them because it happened so quickly.

A total of 16 contracts to be awarded have been affected. These include crucial services such as the maintenance and repair of medium electricity voltage and low substations, as well as solid waste management in the city and beachfront areas among others.

The Delangokubona Business Forum, known for their strong arm tactics with regards to radical economic transformation, denied any involvement.

“Why are we always accused when something negative happens? We are not responsible for this,” said the forum’s spokesperson Nathi Mnyandu.

City manager Sipho Nzuza condemned the act, which he said was going to delay some of the critical services the city had hoped to begin before the end of the year.

“It is going to cause a major setback to service delivery. I have engaged with business forums to assist if they have any information related this incident. They denied any involvement and promised to enquire among their members.

“This incident is completely uncalled for and we are in the process of identifying the culprits. We have opened a case with the SAPS and are conducting intensive investigations using our CCTV footage. We want to find the culprits and they must be brought to book,” he said.

Nzuza said all the tenders had to be cancelled because important and confidential documents had been seized.

“It unfortunate that the process of awarding a contract is quite long, it can take up to a month. With December holidays approaching it could be detrimental to service delivery.”

Head of the Supply Chain Management Unit Andre Peterson said due to the incident, the opening of some tenders would be cancelled.

“We are aware that certain tenders are affected by this incident and we will keep the public informed of the developments.”

He urged the public to approach the municipality if they had any issues.

“This incident has now hindered our processes and affects our timelines. We call on people to meet with us if they need any assistance.”