Mixed reaction to mayor’s bid for tighter tender controls

ETHEKWINI mayor Zandile Gumede wants tighter control and oversight of the process of the awarding of tenders by the municipality.

The process could see the bid adjudication committees reformed and the mayor overseeing some of the process in her political capacity.

But her plan received mixed reactions from the opposition benches, as some councillors believe more oversight is long overdue while others believe the mayor is overstepping her boundaries.

Gumede made it clear she was unhappy with the current loopholes in the supply chain process that failed to enforce proper distribution of work and wealth through the awarding of tenders by the city.

“We need to really look at the supply chain process to make sure that tenders that are given, to make sure what empowerment is in place so we can avoid what is currently happening in the city,” she told executive committee members (Exco) during a sitting in the city hall yesterday.

“The community must benefit,” she said.

Although Gumede did not mention the Amadelangokubona Forum by name, its members have led the charge in demanding that smaller companies benefit from the work being done in the city.

The members of the group appeared in court in Durban yesterday on allegations that they had been intimidating construction companies to force them to give them work.

They have been accused of shutting down several projects, including the R8 billion resort development near Sibaya Casino, and have also been accused of threatening municipal employees to get work from the city.

Zwakele Mncwango, of the DA ,said the politicians’ role was to exercise oversight, not to interfere with who get tenders. He said any interference with the bid committees was unwelcome.

“The mayor says that she will monitor who will be getting tenders – that is a clear conflict of interests. Our role as politicians is to monitor and raise concerns, as councillors we cannot get involved with the awarding of tenders.”

Mncwango said Gumede needed to understand her powers. “She is not an executive mayor,” he said.

IFP leader Mdu Nkosi said he supported the mayor’s view on the issue of oversight.

“Some of the issues come to us long after they have happened…

“I am not happy there are no disabled people getting work, but there are many disabled people who have businesses.”