Municipality fingered for dodgy tender deals
Questioning irregular tenders made him a target, family say
A DISTRICT municipality awarded tenders worth more than R200 million to well-connected companies – including those owned by slain billionaire Wandile Bozwana – without following proper supply chain management procedures.
The Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality in Vryburg, North West, also awarded additional contracts worth R215m but failed to provide the auditorgeneral’s (AG) office with authentic documents about the tenders, The Star can reveal. The contracts were issued in a year and constituted 96 percent of the overall tender allocation last year.
Most of the tenders went to companies and consortiums owned by Bozwana, who was shot multiple times in broad daylight on the N1 in Pretoria last Friday.
One of the contracts was given to HT Pelatona Projects and Tsoga Developers – one of the consortiums registered in the names of Bozwana and Mmoloki Pheelwane.
The contracts were for the construction of roads, installation of sewer network infrastructure and the supply of bulk water to villages in North West.
The contracts are also the subject of a Hawks investigation.
The AG found the lack of documentation and recorded management made it impossible for their office to conduct proper auditing.
The AG’s final management report was handed to North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo and the district municipality mayor Elvis Tladinyane in November last year.
Due to the mess, the municipality obtained a disclaimer – the worst audit finding for a state organ – and it depicts acts of corruption, financial maladministration and fraud.
The municipality also failed to inform the ratepayers about it.
Captain FB Serati of the Hawks in the Mahikeng provincial office is investigating the matter.
On the more than R200m tenders, the AG found that sufficient appropriate audit evidence could not be found to prove the contracts were legally awarded. The AG listed 16 breaches of supply chain management and said some the companies were not tax compliant. Municipal conditional grants were also used to pay these non-compliant companies.
The municipality did not have a proper asset register and revenue database.
“The root causes of the lack of effective prevention and detection are that the municipality has no effective internal control in place to detect and report on irregular expenditure,” the AG said.
SLAIN North West businessman Wandile Bozwana knew he would be killed, his family said yesterday.
“He repeatedly told us he will be killed; that made us ready for his death,” his younger brother Mlungiseleli Bozwana said.
“They (killers) made a mistake, they did not kill Jesus. We are left with Jesus as our comforter. We are not happy that he (Bozwana) was killed.”
Bozwana was gunned down in what was suspected to be a hit in Pretoria last Friday afternoon. Gunman fired a number of rounds through the passenger side where Bozwana was seated, hitting him nine times. He later died in hospital. The driver of the vehicle was injured in the attack.
Yesterday, friends and business associates gathered at the Montshioa Stadium in Mahikeng to remember him.
Some wore white T-shirts with Bozwana’s face emblazoned on the front and the message “Visionary leader, man with a great mind” on the back. The message from the mourners seemed unanimous: Bozwana was killed for fighting corruption
“Wandile was questioning the irregular awarding of tenders. We have companies that were awarded multimillion-(rand) tenders even when they did not have tax certificates. Bozwana was fighting this corruption,” said Mothusi Montwedi, an ANC member from Taung.
“The ANC is infiltrated by the ‘premier league’. They decide the outcome of conferences. Business in the province cannot be available to Supra (Mahumapelo) (North West premier) and a few of his friends,” he said, to a chorus of applause from the crowd.
The so-called premier league is believed to be made up of Mahumapelo and the premiers of Mpumalanga and the Free State, David Mabuza and Ace Magashule, respectively. They are said to be key players in the political landscape.
“My children are still young, even if I could be killed, I have to speak the truth.”
EFF leader in the North West legislature Alfred Motsi said Bozwana’s killers should be arrested. “These people could be traced. There are few M3 series, go to BMW it will give you information. The next is Sanral; that car passed through the e-toll gantry. Sanral will tell us whether that BMW went to Polokwane or Johannesburg,” he said.
Motsi said the gunman might be a foreigner who had already jumped the border and vanished without trace. “I know how he works. If he wants something, he will get it no matter what,” he said without giving names.
Bozwana was deputy chairman of the North West Business Forum. He is to be laid to rest in Pretoria tomorrow.