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Public Protector advocate Kholeka Gcaleka has found that there was improper conduct and maladministration by Enoch Mgijima local municipality officials in the tender for the construction of the controversial Lesseyton sports field in Komani.
Tabling her findings on Wednesday, Gcaleka said allegations of procurement irregularities in the awarding of the tender to Thalami Civils in the amount of R22.7m for the construction of the facility were substantiated.
Construction for the sports field started in 2018 when the municipality awarded the tender to Thalami Civils.
There was an outcry on social media about the poor quality of the facility and its cost when it was officially opened in October 2021.
Gcaleka said the total amount of the awarded bid exceeded the budget of R18.7m approved by the co-operative governance and traditional affairs department in the 2017/18 financial year.
“The awarded tender exceeded the budgeted amount by over R4.7m and there is no evidence that the municipality approached the municipal council for additional funding, as required by Section 19 (1) of the MFMA (Municipal Finance Management Act),” she said in her report.
Gcaleka also said the tender advertisement had two different closing dates for applications and was not placed in three different publicly accessible platforms, as required.
“The tender advertisement period was shortened from 30 days to 14 days, and the reason provided was that the construction of the Lesseyton Sportsfield was an emergency.
“The municipality’s definition of emergency in this regard was found not to be in line with the definition in terms of regulation 22(2) of the municipal supply chain management policy.”
Gcaleka said the reason given by the municipality’s bid adjudication committee for not awarding the tender to the highest-scoring bidder was that the bidder had recently received a tender of a similar magnitude.
This, Gcaleka said, did not amount to “objective criteria” and was not supported by any legal or rational authority.
“Thalami Civils was therefore appointed in contravention of section 2(1)(e) and (f) of the PPPFA, which provides that a contract must be awarded to the tenderer who scores the highest points, unless objective criteria justify the award to another tenderer.”
The public watchdog’s report further found that there were irregularities in the management of the contract and a lack of proper oversight.
This was in relation to a R1.1m tender awarded to Sky High Consulting Engineers.
Gcaleka highlighted “discrepancies” over the actual services that were rendered by the company.
Sky High was hired for consulting but due to poor oversight it was allowed to do work outside its scope.
As a result, the contract value increased to R2.7m.
“This expenditure could have been avoided had the municipality properly managed the project as these services were neither in the specification nor in the SLA [service level agreement] signed between the two parties.
“The lack of appropriate oversight by the municipal functionaries amounts to a contravention of section 62(1) of the MFMA, which requires effective, efficient and cost-effective utilisation of the municipality’s resources.”
A preliminary report into the construction tender in 2022 recommended that the municipality approach the high court for the awarding of the contract to Thalami Civils to be set aside.
The investigation, conducted by Wesley Pretorius & Associates, found the procurement process and tender award had been marred by numerous irregularities.
Gcaleka instructed Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane, within 90 days of receipt of the report, to take “appropriate corrective action” against Cogta MEC Zolile Williams for the delay in tabling the report by Wesley Pretorius before the Enoch Mgijima council and the failure to table it before the provincial legislature.
The delay is said to have taken a year.
She further instructed Williams to ensure that consequence management be applied against implicated Enoch Mgijima municipal officials, who now hold positions in other municipalities.
The provincial co-operative governance department was unable to respond to questions by the time of publication on Wednesday.
Attempts to get comment from Thalami Civils and Enoch Mgijima municipality spokesperson Lonwabo Koma were also unsuccessful.
ActionSA Eastern Cape chair Nongoma Mtitshana welcomed the findings and remedial action announced by the public protector.
“We expect prosecutions, dismissals and financial recoveries to follow. Anything less would render the entire process a betrayal of public trust.”
EFF provincial secretary and MPL Simthembile Madikizela also hailed the report.
The party had opened a corruption case against the municipality’s leadership four years ago.
“The EFF has opened a case of corruption in Komani against Enoch Mgijima local municipality leadership ... The EFF condemns the blatant embezzling of public funds by the ANC and will ensure that all the culprits involved ... are jailed and removed from the public institutions,” the party said in statement.
Daily Dispatch
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