‘Disgusted’ ANC calls for suspension of Tshwane city manager Moeketsi Mosola
The ANC in Gauteng has called for the immediate suspension of Tshwane municipal manager Moeketsi Mosola pending the outcome of a forensic investigation into the awarding of a multibillion-rand project management contract.
In a statement on Monday‚ the ANC in Gauteng said it was "appalled‚ disgusted but not surprised" by the DA-led coalition "showing their true colours in the City of Tshwane".
This comes after the Sunday Times reported that an engineering consultancy‚ GladAfrica‚ was bleeding the city dry after being handed infrastructure projects worth about R12-billion‚ as well as raking in a further R250-million in middleman commissions in the past six months.
Mosola is said to have brought the firm in despite legal opinions suggesting that doing so was unlawful.
The Sunday Times revealed that Mosola further disregarded resistance from senior officials in the city‚ some of whom were stripped of their powers when questioning the move.
"The DA-led administration outsources the city’s multibillion-rand capital expenditure‚ which is at the heart of service delivery. The money for the construction of roads‚ water and electricity infrastructure‚ the building of community infrastructure and other key service delivery related infrastructure is catered for from this budget‚" said the ANC.
“What this means is that service providers‚ which include struggling entrepreneurs who used to get business directly from the municipality‚ are now at the mercy of a middleman which is GladAfrica‚ who have to be paid facilitation fees. These companies‚ who were registered with the city‚ have now been compelled to register on the database of GladAfrica for them to get any business.
"Bringing in the consultancy has dramatically inflated prices as the consultancy fees are way beyond accepted rates as approved by the Engineering Council of South Africa and the Department of Public Service and Administration.
“Effectively the DA-EFF city has done away with competitive bidding processes and has literally outsourced its procurement to GladAfrica. The situation has led to the intimidation of senior managers in the city‚ who have questioned this irregularity."
The party called for Mosola to be charged.
"If the DA-EFF coalition is serious about service delivery in the City of Tshwane‚ they should immediately suspend Mosola and institute an investigation into the grand-scale corruption - and thereafter take the report to the South African Police Service‚" said the ANC.