Pretoria - Allegations of mismanagement that surfaced in Joburg six years ago when three of Tshwane’s top leaders worked there have come back to haunt them.
The DA has accused city manager Jason Ngobeni, his deputy Lindiwe Kwele and executive mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa of presiding over a city that bungled the three-day TribeOne Dinokeng music festival in the same way Joburg messed up the Miss World event in 2008.
Joburg hosted a Miss World Pageant that cost the city at least R90 million, the DA said.
The party claimed that at the time Kwele, as chief executive of the Joburg Tourism Company, had signed an agreement to host the event for R73m.
However, the municipal entity was insolvent and did not have the money. This meant the Joburg metro was left carrying the can.
At the time, Ngobeni was the executive director of economic development in Joburg, and Kwele reported to him. Also reporting to Ngobeni was Ramokgopa who was head of the Fresh Produce Market.
The Pretoria News has heard that Nomasonto Ndlovu - Tshwane’s head of communications, marketing and events - brought the Dinokeng festival to the city through the connection between her husband and the organisers, Rockstar4000 and Sony, something she denies.
The DA claimed that just as the leaders had done in Joburg, they thought the costs to the capital could be offset by sponsorships and merchandising deals.
“But since the cancellation of the festival, no merchandising partner has yet come to the fore to claim repayment of sponsorship money or damages,” said Aucamp.
“This is despite the fact that at this late stage all sponsorships should have been paid and merchandising products would already have been produced.
“It was all pie in the sky.
“We hold the mayor and his friends - Ngobeni and Kwele - accountable for all losses incurred on account of the gross mismanagement of the festival,” she said.
The three should not hold the positions they do, Aucamp claimed.
However, the Tshwane metro has hit back, saying the views of the DA were motivated by racial malice and hatred for the leadership.
Ndlovu said TribeOne was in line with the city’s broader strategy of repositioning the capital as a preferred destination.
It was also in line with the revival of decaying towns.
Ndlovu said she met Sony managing director Sean Watson in 2011, while working at South African Tourism. She denied she heard about the (concert) concept from her husband.
Kwele said the Miss World and TribeOne matters were unrelated. Miss World cost R90m over two years and there was never any escalation, he said, therefore the R78m cited by the DA was a lie.
“It is true that the tourism company was technically insolvent due to a discrepancy between the turnaround strategy that was approved and the budget that was ultimately allocated to it.
She said she never bankrupted the entity and left it in a healthy financial position.
City of Tshwane spokesman Selby Bokaba said a notice of arbitration was served on the TribeOne organisers on Friday, and six arbitrators suggested.
The city also wants the arbitration, aimed at recouping the millions paid to the organisers, to be open to the media.
Pretoria News