No tenders for basic services, EFF promises

Johannesburg - The Economic Freedom Fighters says if it takes over leadership in Johannesburg after the local government elections, it will put a stop to the tender system for the delivery of basic services.

"The most important component of how we will end corruption is to abolish tenders," EFF's deputy president Floyd Shivambu told a hall filled with students and members of the public during a debate at the University of Witwatersrand on Thursday evening.

"If you use tenders to deliver services you are going to hire a consultant who takes the money, then you hire a tenderpreneur who must pay bribes because it is a competitive space."

He said because of this, the EFF – which is running in its first local government elections - was going to make use of project managers who not only had the necessary skills but were also able to deliver.

"We are going to deploy excellent project managers, employ ordinary people [and] give them jobs to deliver services to our people.

"In that way, we would have decidedly ended the corruption sickness that is defining the whole of South Africa's local government sphere," Shivambu said.

He was responding to a question raised by a student who had asked how the EFF would ensure that it prevents corruption within the economic hub that the party was trying to establish in Gauteng.

Shivambu said the EFF, which turns three in August, was the only party that could effectively address the issue of corruption.

"We are the only party that can speak against corruption. Already we have made Jacob Zuma sign to pay the R7.8m [for Nkandla]," Shivambu said to loud cheers in the hall.

"We demanded that he must pay back the money in Parliament and we are delivering already before we are even in government."

This article first appeared on News24 – see here.