The Mercury
Durban City Manager Sbu Sithole. Photo: SIBUSISO NDLOVU
Durban – Highly irregular spending by eThekwini municipal officials, who seem to have ignored spending procedures and allowed a R22 million bill to escalate, is being questioned by the city’s public accounts committee.
Just why and how officials were able to sanction spending on landscaping, cleaning and security without any checks and balances being applied has city bosses in a fury.
On Tuesday, eThekwini’s public funds watchdog body called for a probe into how the irregular expenditure was incurred when a three-month contract was extended to three years – from last December – without the knowledge of the council or its executive committee.
In a report prepared by the internal audit department for the public accounts committee, it emerged that the conditions of the contract authorised Drake Skull Facilities Management to procure the services of other companies – which were then paid by the city.
These included:
* Cleaning services by Drake Skull’s subsidiary Tsebo Cleaning Services for R3.1m.
* Enforce Security Services security and uniforms for R7m.
* Topturf maintenance and waterproofing for R2m.
* Other work for technology, painting, building and much more totalling R22m.
The report said what had happened contravened section 4 (3) of the city’s supply-chain management policy, which says the council or accounting officer may not delegate or sub-delegate supply-chain management powers to a person who is not a municipal official.
“Other service providers that were engaged by the main contractor are currently being vetted to establish the relationship between these companies and Drake Skull,” the report read.
The work was done under the auspices of the “priority zone areas” – a concept introduced during the World Cup to fast-track cleaning and safety in the inner city – but again, there was no documented approval for this.
The management fee also went from R90 000 to R292 395 a month.
“The monthly services provided for cleaning, security and landscaping cannot be easily verified or validated due to the lack of detailed description,” the report reads.
On Tuesday, the internal audit department recommended to the municipal public accounts committee, after receiving legal opinion, that the extension of the contract should be revoked. The possibility of litigation against the contractor was also being considered.
Another recommendation was that officials responsible for the administration of the priority zones should be warned that continued transgressions would lead to “serious consequences”.
The committee on Tuesday expressed its frustration about the blatant abuse of council procurement processes.
City manager S’bu Sithole said it was crucial to establish what the money was spent on.
“We must interrogate this. The project might be good, but we need to look into it.”
DA councillor Andre Mitchell said the contract should have been stopped immediately when it was discovered that officials extended a three-month contract to three years without following proper processes.
“Somebody must be held accountable for wasting ratepayers’ money,” he said.
ANC councillor Nompumelelo Chamane said this matter required a forensic investigation, and money should be recovered, whether or not the council received value for money.
“We have an issue of people doing things they are not supposed to and getting away with murder in the name of value for money,” she said.
gugu.mbonambi@inl.co.za
The Mercury
