Johannesburg - The City of Tshwane municipality said on Friday the Auditor-General had found that the awarding of a contract to engineering consultants GladAfrica was irregular, despite the city manager insisting the process was above board.
African News Agency was not able to get a copy of the report on Friday, but a statement from mayor Solly Msimanga's administration said the Auditor-General found the contract award did not comply with regulations and procurement was beyond the scope and terms and conditions of the original contract the service provider had with the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
"If a contract has been deemed to have been concluded irregularly, as has been declared by the A-G and stated in the financial statements, then all other expenditure thereon is too considered irregular," Tshwane member of the mayoral committee for finance Mare-Lise Fourie said in a statement.
"Thus the R317 million already spent on GladAfrica is also irregular."
Last year the Tshwane council, run by a coalition of parties led by Msimanga's Democratic Alliance, acknowledged that the awarding of a tender to roll out infrastructure projects valued at R12 billion to GladAfrica was irregular, after a leaked preliminary report by the AG found it did not comply with Municipal Supply Chain Management regulations.
On Friday, Fourie said although city manager Dr Moeketsi Mosola had stated last August that the contract was awarded properly, the latest finding, which was part of the AG’s annual assessment of the city’s financial performance, "has forced him to concede to the AG that the contract is indeed irregular".
Fourie said the exclusive appointment of GladAfrica in place of what was meant to be a panel of service providers, and the price tag of the award, was never properly reported either to the mayoral committee or council by the city manager.
"Mosola is at present blocking the investigation in labour court on technical grounds," Fourie added.
"In any event, the Executive Mayor will ask attorneys that the case be fast-tracked so that matter can be unblocked the preliminary report can be tabled in council and there can be accountability."