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Ndlamde Municipality’s unlawful R111 million drought mitigation tender award

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Dear MyPE

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has taken note of the damning judgement against the Ndlambe Local Municipality issued by Judge P. Zilwa in the Grahamstown High Court this week.

The ruling, which related to the award of a tender for a 5 megalitre reverse osmosis plant costing in excess of R111 million to supplement the water supply in drought-stricken Port Alfred, is particularly harsh on the actions of Ndlambe Municipal Manager, Roly Dumezweni.

The judgement sets aside the award of the tender to Quality Filtration Systems (QFS) and renders it unlawful.

Among the issues identified in the judgement are:

  • That QFS were permitted to amend or supplement their bid, after the bids had closed, at the invitation of the municipality, and without affording other bidders a similar opportunity.
  • There were no detailed guidelines to inform the functional scoring assessment of the tenders received.
  • That the municipality specified a minimum functionality score of 85%, which neither QFS or MEB Energy received, and that the municipal manager (Dumezweni) subsequently reduced. The court held that his actions in this regard were “tainted with impropriety and irregularity, rendering the whole process nugatory”.
  • That Dumezweni changed criteria without following due process or providing any justification. The court held that “such action cannot be sustained and it runs completely foul of the proper tender procedures”.
  • The municipality acted contrary to its own Supply Chain Management policy, the Preferential Procurement Policy Regulations and the Municipal Finance Management Act.
  • Prior to signing the contract, the Municipality paid out R20 million to QFS, for which there appears to have been no work completed.

The DA is outraged at this blatant maladministration and failure to account for municipal finances in an appropriate manner, and will be calling on Council at its next sitting to suspend Dumezweni, pending a full investigation.

In addition, we will be referring this matter to the DA EC Shadow MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Vicky Knoetze, MPL, to take the matter up in the provincial legislature.

We cannot sit by while our limited resources are squandered or mismanaged. We must hold those responsible fully accountable to the full extent of the law.

Regards

Cllr Ray Schenk
DA Ndlambe Caucus Leader

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