The City of Johannesburg says it has cancelled a R161-million contract for the provision of fire engines.
The contract‚ according to the city’s executive mayor Herman Mashaba‚ was awarded on the basis of forged Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) documents.
“The agreement‚ entered into in 2015‚ was allegedly entered on condition that the contractor furnished the City with a performance guarantee of R16-million and that it demonstrated that it had sufficient cash flow to enable delivery‚” Mashaba said.
“A purchase order of R19-million was also issued in favour of contractor for delivery of the first set of fire engines to the City.”
Mashaba said the contractor not only failed to provide the performance guarantee but also failed to deliver the 29 new fires engines. The contractor has since been placed under business rescue proceedings.
“Upon investigation by the City’s new head of Group Legal Services‚ Mr Isaac Mogashoa‚ it appeared that the minutes from the BEC‚ which sat to adjudicate proposals for the tender‚ were forged.
“The City has obtained sworn statements from the members of the BEC and is working with law enforcement authorities to investigate the matter.” Mashaba said the city has since terminated the contract and that it has now begun a new process for the acquisition of fire engines.
