Durban – The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) in KwaZulu-Natal has demanded answers from the Amajuba District Municipality following allegations that the district mayor’s son hand-picked a company for an R46 million tender.
The demand for an explanation was sparked by a whistle-blower who wrote to the department in connection with a tender to build a wastewater treatment plant in Utrecht (eMadlangeni local municipality).
Meanwhile, KZN COGTA has written to the Amajuba district municipality requesting information after a whistleblower alleged that a R46 million tender was awarded to a company which was handpicked by the son of the district Mayor. Both municipalities are run by the IFP. @IOL
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) October 17, 2022
The whistle-blower further alleged that then municipal manager Mandlenkosi Sithole disregarded a recommendation by the bid adjudication committee to cancel the tender and re-advertise it when there were objections.
Another irregularity noted in the letter to Cogta by the whistle-blower was that when the objection by one of the losing bidders was heard, the director of corporate services was not present and Sithole misled the committee by saying the director was away on a workshop and apologised for his non-presence.
The director later indicated that he was never informed about the meeting and he never apologised for his absence as claimed by Sithole.
At the meeting, the director was replaced by another director for corporate services from eMadlangeni Local Municipality, a financially troubled local municipality falling under the same district municipality of Amajuba.
“It is alleged that there was some interference by the son of the mayor, namely Mr Ndwee Ndima, in respect of the aforementioned process.
“To the extent that he sent a WhatsApp message to the complainant of which company must be appointed.”
Now Cogta wants the district municipality in the north-western part of KwaZulu-Natal to furnish it with 16 batches of documents so that it can probe the matter.
Among the documents it wants is the declaration of interest by all members of the bid committee, documents relating to objections and how they were resolved and proof of compliance with the municipal finance management act.
Senzo Mzila, the spokesperson for Cogta, said they would not like to discuss their engagement with Amajuba over the matter.
“At this moment the department can’t divulge its internal engagement with the Amajuba district.
“Under the leadership of MEC (Sihle) Zikalala the department is committed to upholding the highest standards in the conduct of all KZN municipalities,” Mzila said.
Dube, the district municipality’s manager, did not respond despite promising to do so.
Current Affairs