Johannesburg - Transnet awarded a R15.5 billion contract to nine black- and women-owned firms to supply fuel to the parastatal for the next five years, the company said yesterday.
The companies will supply Transnet with home-based fuel, diesel supplies for diesel vehicles and marine diesel for port equipment.
The companies chosen for the single biggest contract for a state-owned company were Afric Oil, Borutho Gas Supply, Gulfstream Energy, KZN Oils, Mzumbe Oil, NRW Trading and Logistics, Tlhokaina 21, Women Of Africa Fuels and Oils, and Yem Yem Petroleum.
Earlier this year, Transnet awarded contracts to black internal accounting and external auditing firms to the tune of about R2bn.
Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said his department instructed Transnet that black women and youth-led businesses “should not be trapped in cleaning services, provision of security services or selling “magwinya” (vetkoeks) outside the building or construction sites”. Gigaba said procurement spend should create sustainable employment opportunities and deracialise the economy.
The recipients of the contract were assessed based on price, supplier development, broad-based black economic empowerment and technical ability among others. Transnet also assessed the bidders to ensure all had the capability and capacity to service Transnet’s operational requirements in what formed part of a “competitive process” of selection.
Transnet chief executive Brian Molefe said: “Given the size and the quantum of the contract, and the central role fuel plays in Transnet’s operations, this assessment meant we could comfortably award the contract knowing that security of supply for the company is assured.”
“The award contributes significantly to Transnet’s supplier and enterprise development goals, target and ambitions especially in relation to skills development, job creation, technology transfer and rural integrations,” Transnet said, adding that it would also be providing mentorship programmes to some of the firms.
Borutho Gas executive chairman Juneas Lekgetha said the local oil industry was one of the most racially untransformed sectors in the country, adding that Transnet’s strategy would assist in opening up of the oil market to smaller companies.
He added that the contract was “among the biggest” jobs his company had ever been contracted to do.
He added that contracts with 10-year life spans between corporations such as Shell and Anglo American ensured that there was no room for newcomers, noting without Transnet’s contract and others of the sort, transformation would never be realised in the industry.
A report released in July by PricewaterhouseCoopers said: “South Africa has until recently been regarded as having a transparent and independent process with the Petroleum Agency of SA (Pasa) managing the licensing and marketing of local acreage and assets.”
It said the proposed amendments to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act will see Pasa’s functions transferred to the Department of Energy and that this could create “an uneven playing field for competitors and allow for state interference”. - Business Report