DURBAN - A meeting of eThekwini’s full council this week became chaotic when the DA’s Sharon Hoosen questioned the logic of renting office space at the Embassy Building and Old Mutual Towers for R54 million over three years.
She questioned the deal because refurbishment of the council-owned 75 Dr Langalibalele Dube Street was under way, costing R40.8m.
The dispute was over a “secret report" prepared for the executive committee by Krish Kumar, deputy city manager in Treasury. However, the report was never tabled.
Instead, a recommendation was made to lease the building despite the report indicating it was not cost-effective to do so.
Hoosen said she would take the matter to the Public Protector for investigation.
She said Kumar’s report stated there was sufficient council-owned space in the city centre to relocate staff from 75 Dr Langalibalele Dube Street.
“Club Lane, Lion Match, Sunkist buildings and others are named in the report. Why have these buildings not been considered and who stands to benefit from this deal? This recommendation is riddled with suspicion,” she said.
When she requested permission to table the “secret report”, eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede intervened to reject the request.
“Speaker, we can’t be seated here listening to speculation and allegations. We can’t be holding back on this recommendation because of a secret report. It is clear that some of our officials are not being honest with us. Let us vote on this recommendation and we will have the allegations of the report investigated,” she said.
Speaker William Lekgoa Mapena called for a vote and Hoosen, who still had time remaining to speak, continued talking. Mapena called her to order, and later asked her to leave the chamber.
Hoosen refused, and Mapena called for security to escort her out, with DA members forming a shield preventing the guards from getting to her.
Gumede then called for all councillors to sit down and told Mapena to let the Hoosen matter lie and deal with it through other means. Mapena said the matter would be taken to the ethics committee.
“In the report in question, Kumar clearly states that it is not cost-effective to procure accommodation at external, non-council-owned buildings. Despite this report, lease negotiations went ahead,” Hoosen told the Daily News on Thursday.
Kumar admitted the report she referred to existed and that he had signed it. He had also signed a second report which was tabled at Exco on Tuesday. He said the matter regarding the report not tabled at Exco was being sensationalised.
“We felt that we had to look for alternative accommodation because some employees were sitting at home while we had only the ground floor to work from at 75 Langalibalele. When we went looking for accommodation, no company wanted to give us a short-term contract; hence the three-year lease.”
The building was old and more structural issues could come up in the future. "We have instructed our people to look into the allegation that the city is being charged more than is expected on this deal.”
Gumede could not be reached for comment on Thursday.