One of the Tshwane managers accused of irregularly awarding a contract to corruption-accused businessman Edwin Sodi was found by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to have been involved in the awarding of a dodgy catering tender at the height of the Covid-19.

Tshwane official Thembeka Mphefu, the divisional head of supply chain management together with four of her colleagues were set to appear before a disciplinary hearing this week for their involvement in the awarding of water treatment works to Sodi’s consortium.

The companies – CMS, NJR and Blackhead JV – only completed 60% of the work before the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Plant contract was cancelled for poor performance last year, while the three companies pocketed R292m. Had they completed the project, the quality of drinking water in Hammanskraal would be good, safe to drinking and possibly averting the cholera outbreak which has since killed 17 people in the last week.

The four colleagues are the divisional head of electricity planning and development Frans Manganye, the group head of utility services Stephens Notoane, the director of the electricity department Justice Sekokotla and the divisional head of water and sanitation Dumisani Gubuza.

The Rooiwal contract was awarded in October 2019, during DA’s Stevens Mokgalapa’s tenure as mayor of the city.

The 2020 SIU report recommended that Mphefu face disciplinary action after she “acted wrongly in that she committed gross and serious misconduct which prejudiced the administration” for the catering tender.

It further saidys Mphefu “allowed an emergency procurement process to unfold knowing very well that such a process had to include the requirements of fairness, transparency and competition to appoint the service providers”. It also said that she allowed the municipality to appoint 36 catering companies “without following an authorised procurement process”.

The R24m catering tender was to feed thousands of homeless people in Tshwane who had been displaced during the Covid-19 hard lockdown. They were to be fed at several shelters in the city.

According to the report, the city declined to institute a disciplinary process against Mphefu in 2020.

City manager Johann Mettler told Sowetan yesterday that they deemed the contents of the report to be insufficient to act against her. “Hence no action [was] taken,” he said.

In the Rooiwal tender matter, Mettler said the five employees were still in their employ and that the accused are currently presenting their case in the disciplinary hearing.

“The case will continue on 14 June for change of attorneys.”

Mphefu, Notoane, Sekokotla, Manganye and Gubuza are accused of flouting legal processes in the awarding of the Rooiwal tender to companies linked to Sodi.

The forensic report by Ligwa Advisory Services states that the five made up the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) which was responsible to appoint a contractor to expand the Rooiwal’s capacity which would have improved the quality of drinking water.

The investigator alleged that they ignored obvious red flags which would have immediately eliminated Sodi’s companies.

According to the report, CMS, NJR and Blackhead JV should not have been allowed to bid as they did not have the required grading from the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). The grading is an indicator of how contractors handle their finances and assigned projects. They also scored the consortium 80 points for the tender, despite the company not fitting the grade, placing it above other bidders.

“According to the individual score sheets, BEC members allocated the same points to the individual bidders they evaluated during the functionality evaluation stage. We enquired from BEC through an email dated 2022 July 15 on whether they evaluated as a team or individually. We received no response as at the date of this report. We found the above to be suspicious and improbable in that the BEC members scored the bidders in the same manner,” read the report.

In October last year, Tshwane councillors adopted a forensic report despite the alleged pushback by the EFF and the ANC in council.

Ligwa recommended that Mphefu and other BEC members face a disciplinary hearing and also be criminally charged by the city.

Hawks spokesperson Thandi Mbambo confirmed a case of contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act with regards to procurement processes in awarding a tender was opened and the case is still under investigation.

Kuvashen Padayachee, the lawyer representing the five employees, said his clients would only respond to Sowetan’s query on June 1.

“In order to appropriately address the aforementioned queries, we must arrange a time to meet with all of our clients. In anticipation of that meeting, our clients would need to compile a response.”

chabalalaj@sowetan.co.za