Love Me Tender

I’ve already written about the ongoing deterioration of Johannesburg twice this year, but, like your favourite Golden Oldies radio station, the hits just keep on coming.

The latest in the apparent laundry list of “you can’t make this up” issues is the response by Johannesburg city spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane when challenged on the awarding of massive transport contracts (valued at R972 million) to politically connected families.

“The metro government sees no problem and will not investigate,” he said.

This response came despite multiple concerns from the Auditor General, civic watchdogs, and political parties.

The issue concerns six contracts given in 2023 for the extension of the BRT/Rea Vaya bus system. They were all awarded to the families of city councillors and officials.

The extension project is already eight years behind schedule, and its final deadline for the end of last year was also missed.

Yet Modingoane remains resolute. “There is no regulatory provision that prohibits the Municipality to award contracts to the category of people in question (spouse, child or parent of a person in service of state either actively or in the past twelve months),” he said. “Therefore, the question whether the City failed in oversight and due diligence is misplaced.”

He appears to be the only one with this opinion.

The Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA), Tsakani Maluleke, said, “Although there is no legislation that prohibits municipalities from making awards to suppliers in which close family members or business associates of employees or councillors have an interest, such awards create conflicts of interest for these employees or councillors and/or their close family members or business associates.

“The possibility of undue influence cannot be discounted, especially if the person could have influenced the procurement processes for these awards, potentially creating opportunities for irregularities.”

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is clearly also incensed. Its head of caucus, Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku, said, “The DA has lodged a formal complaint with the Special Investigating Unit over the R1-billion in awards to companies that are linked to current and former councillors.

“This shocking report paints a grim picture of a city where public money is seemingly treated as a personal piggy bank by those elected to serve it. At a time when Joburg’s streets are crumbling, power outages are the norm and basic service delivery is in freefall, it is unacceptable that councillors may be benefiting from a broken procurement system.”

Corruption Watch is another group voicing their dissatisfaction.

“The official response is quite disturbing,” says Moepeng Talane, who assesses all AG reports for the organisation. “The biggest risk is that nothing will be done, and another big transport infrastructure is threatened. Metro governments are regressing in terms of their reports to the Auditor-General. It’s worrying and urgently needs the intervention of the provincial governments.”

But the outrage is falling on deaf ears.

When asked if the contracts would be rescinded or investigated, Modingoane said, “To rescind such an award will be unlawful and the Municipality will be exposed to litigation risks as a result.”

The irony is jaw dropping. It seems it’s perfectly OK to worry about unlawful practices when there’s a clear benefit involved for the few.

“While the ANC turns city tenders into family fortunes, residents are choking on filth, traffic, and broken promises,” an anonymous student was reported as saying. “R972 million handed to connected families while basic services collapse – and they won’t even investigate. The BRT system is 8 years overdue, but city officials are on their fifth mansion.”

So, what exactly is the issue with the BRT system?

The Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system was designed to make it easier, cheaper and faster for employees living on the outskirts of Johannesburg to get to work. The initial stages worked well, and an expansion to the north was planned that would almost double the number of buses available. This would make it much easier for people to take advantage of the job opportunities presented by Joburg’s vast development in the north.

Unfortunately, the expansion project has been beset by delays, infrastructure weaknesses and leadership issues.

New stations lie dormant as ineffective planning and project management, coupled with a lack of accountability for poor performance, procurement and contractual irregularities, and a total lack of accountability cripple progress.

The project is now eight years behind schedule, and the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) missed a pledge to get it running by the end of 2024.

The Daily Maverick, which regularly tracks the route to check how its progressing, confirms that things are still a long way from being finished.

It’s yet another failure in Johannesburg’s woeful track record, and despite President Ramaphosa promising to take measures to address the city’s rapidly collapsing infrastructure and services, there is little, if any, evidence of this on the ground.

The DA says it’s engaging the Auditor-General and National Treasury to demand a forensic audit into all tenders linked to officials and elected councillors.

“We will not rest until those responsible are held to account and the city is restored to honest, capable leadership,” the party said.

Sadly, the BRT tender debacle is the latest in a long line of similar practices around the country:

In December last year, reports emerged concerning irregularities around the awarding of a 3-year, R263 million contract to supply Johannesburg with water tankers.
In the Western Cape, forensic investigations revealed anomalies surrounding a R1.2 billion tender by the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) for the maintenance and expansion of local area network (LAN) services in schools.
And back in Johannesburg, ActionSA has demanded clarity from City of Johannesburg Mayor, Cllr Dada Morero, and MMC for Transport, Cllr Kenny Kunene, on allegations of irregularities concerning the R194 million Lilian Ngoyi Street restoration tender.

It’s a depressing trend, and I’m not sure it’s going to be reversed any time soon. But we have to keep trying. We need decisive action such as:

Thorough and impartial investigation of officials and others implicated in the irregular awarding of contracts.
Full transparency of all tenders awarded in the past five years and going forward.
Where corruption is proven, there must be criminal charges laid, and effective prosecution of the individuals responsible.

As Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”