City sets record straight regarding sanitation contract

The City of Cape Town is committed to open and transparent government. As part of this commitment the City has previously provided extensive information to the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) relating to a particular sanitation contract. The City will tomorrow provide the SJC with further information that they have requested in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).

The City is constantly reviewing how best to monitor the performance of its contractors. Unlike the SJC, the City cannot afford to only focus on one issue, in one part of Cape Town. For example, the City monitors over 35 000 toilets in the City, of various different types.

Part of the City's monitoring efforts has been to review the information related to one of the City's major sanitation contractors, Mshengu Services, the subject of the SJC's PAIA application.

The City utilizes the services of Mshengu for the provision and servicing of chemical toilets. The City will tomorrow provide the requested information related to this contract to the SJC. The information relates to the conditions set out in the contract, copies of invoices and payments as well as delivery notes for the last twelve months. 

The City, as explained to the SJC on numerous occasions, uses a number of measures to help monitor this and all other contracts. It is very important for the SJC and indeed any other organisation to understand all of the technical issues related thereto, before coming to premature or ill-informed conclusions.

For example, the SJC continues to claim that every chemical toilet must be secured in a concrete base. This is not the case; the base of the toilet is dependent on the type of terrain it is located on. If a toilet is placed on a pavement or flood area for example, then it is not possible to provide a concrete base and alternatives are then used.

The contract in this case makes allowance for these variables, with the minimum standard being that the base be compacted and levelled.

The SJC also stated after their most recent ‘audit' that the contractor has under-provided in terms of numbers of toilets provided. Actually,  the number of chemical toilets continually fluctuates, for the following reasons:

• chemical toilets are replaced by permanent full flush toilets, as appropriate space becomes available;
• toilets are often vandalised, in such instances Mshengu or the relevant contractor will remove the toilet for necessary repair, which takes time. This happened recently, where a number of toilets provided by this contractor were removed for repairs mainly due to vandalism to their doors.

The SJC has further requested that they be provided with the delivery notes related to this contract. Again this displays a lack of detailed understanding of the management of such large scale contracts.

One of the General Conditions of the contract is for delivery notes to be provided for when an additional chemical toilet is placed and for every instance a chemical toilet is serviced.

The City has a right  to re-negotiate these General Conditions as and when the need arises. In this instance due to the sheer volume of toilets being serviced, the City's internal auditors agreed that rather than delivery notes, the service provided would be detailed on the invoice i.e. date of the service provided.

Delivery notes would therefore be required for additional provision of chemical toilets only; this amendment is made in accordance with what the contract allows with regards to its General Conditions.

The SJC need also to be advised that apart from the reconciliation of invoices, the City monitors the servicing of the toilets, through:

• Recording of volumes received at Borchards Quarry Wastewater Treatment Plant - records reflect settlements serviced, volumes and condition of truck for spillages. Recorded volumes are compared with total number of toilets on site.
• Community workers (where present) monitor and report on contractors and report on services. They also receive delivery notes.
• Spot checks - to verify if servicing was conducted and check quality of service. Interview members of the community about service satisfaction.
• Compare invoices with vehicle tracker reports.
• The department works closely with Environmental Health Practitioners who visit all settlements at least once a week in their respective districts.
• The department holds monthly meetings with the contractor to discuss challenges.

In order to further strengthen our monitoring of the contract the City is investigating the possibility of installing tracking devices inside the chemical toilets themselves.

Whilst the City does all that it can, with the resources at its disposal, it also relies on the users of the facilities, as well as ward councillors, community leaders and organisations to provide feedback and inform the City when chemical toilets need to be maintained or replaced.

To this end, the City has now installed 67 Free Call lines in selected areas to allow residents to report their service delivery queries at no cost to them. A further 20 lines will be connected by the end of July this year.

The City would again like to call on residents and communities to address concerns they have through the various available channels for it to resolve them as soon as possible. 

The City trusts that the SJC will use the information made available to them in a constructive manner that will help strengthen service delivery and ask that they report faults as and when they occur.

Statement issued by Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg, Mayoral Committee Member for Utility Services, City of Cape Town, May 5 2013

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