DA calls on national government to ensure that dodgy tenders and possible cover-ups in Limpopo municipality are properly probed
The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls for urgent action by provincial and national government to prevent what appears to be a cover-up of rigged tenders and unlawful payments in the Ba-Phalaborwa municipality in Limpopo.
Documents in the DA’s possession, which can be made available on request, indicate that Ba-Phalaborwa awarded two tenders on respectively 26 June and 4 July 2019, for turnkey capital projects without following a competitive bidding process - one for the refurbishment of the Namakgale Stadium, and the other for the installation of storm water culverts in various areas.
The company appointed on the Namakgale Stadium contract invoiced the municipality for half a million rand’s work within two days of reportedly being appointed. The invoice was paid the next day. The R930 000 storm water culverts invoice was paid within 11 days. This is despite the fact that in the 2017/18 financial year Ba-Phalaborwa only had enough cash on hand to pay for six days of operations (the norm is 3 months).
Despite evidence of these payments, there is no evidence that tenders were formally awarded either for the refurbishment of the Namakgale Stadium or the installation of storm water culverts in the period January to June 2019.
Only in October 2019, months after they had received payment, were the companies contracted to serve on municipality’s panels of civil and electrical engineers. For a panelist to receive work before the panel in question has even been constituted is a logical and legal impossibility. And it suggests that Ba-Phalaborwa’s competitive bidding processes, designed to secure the best expertise and value for money, were deliberately by-passed.