Picture this: You are sitting with mates chewing the fat and one of them says; “Can you believe that our City is spending R15 Million on an outdoor Gym in Motherwell? I could have done that work for R3 Million and still retired!” Then another mate chips in and says; “I hear that the contractors are from Johannesburg and Durban and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality have allocated funds to 13 of these outdoor gyms in total. The tenders have been awarded.”
NOW, if you are like me (a cynic who needs to constantly check ‘facts’) then the first thing that you do is go to the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality web site to check the veracity of the above statements.
WHICH I DID!
And I just couldn’t find any information on gyms, outdoor gyms or wellness parks in Motherwell.
YES, the Municipal web site does have a document category for ‘Tender Results’ but, at the time of writing only had TWO documents available: Covid-19 Tender Results – March to August 2020.pdf and Covid 19 tender results for March 2020 – August 2020 on this page – https://www.nelsonmandelabay.gov.za/documentslist?catID=68
A quick look at two similar sized municipalities close to us here in Gqeberha – The Mossel Bay Municipality and the Buffalo City Municipality revealed a more transparent approach from both as their tender results were easier to find.
The clear winner though was Mossel Bay as their awarded tenders are much easier to find AND are searchable. See: https://www.mosselbay.gov.za/tenders-awarded
Surely a public institution such as the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality must make such information freely available in a searchable database?
By doing so the municipality will go a long way to easing the fireside/social media chatter that becomes ‘fact’ after a few tellings?
How difficult could it be to provide a ‘Tender Results’ section that provides the following (searchable) information:
- Tender Number (with link to original tender notice)
- Tender Date
- Awarded Date
- No. of Bidders
- Address where work is to be done
- Detail of work to be done
- Successful Bidder
- Amount
- Contact person for more information
- POPI link for more detailed information
After all – if we are spending public money surely we should be able to research and find exactly how our money is being spent.
Surely the AIM of any institution with INTEGRITY is to ensure that it’s stakeholders are kept in the know?
Alan Straton
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