True to form, transport minister Fikile Mbalula put on a good show on Monday when he called a media briefing to announce that the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) has cancelled key road improvement and construction tenders worth R17bn.
Most have been shelved because of “a material irregularity in the tender process”. Internal control measures designed to prevent collusion had been violated.
Among the contracts scrapped is one for improvements to the EB Cloete interchange, the N2 and N3 connection in KwaZulu-Natal, and another for the crucial Mtentu River bridge project in the Eastern Cape, set to become one of the highest and longest bridges in Africa once complete. The tenders will be re-advertised within the next four months.
Mbalula, accompanied by Sanral chairperson Themba Mhambi, naturally spun the announcement as a victory for good governance, praising himself and the board for identifying, acting on exposing and stamping out what could have been corruption.
He kept a straight face as he told journalists he had received calls from tenderpreneurs asking him to intervene in the cancellation of the tenders, saying proudly that “this is not how we run this country”.
He is right. Once a process has been found to have been tainted there can be no option but to call it off and start from scratch. On behalf of the millions of long-suffering South Africans who unknowingly bankrolled state capture, we thank him for doing the basic minimum required of a public servant.
It would have been even more impressive if he had told us who in Sanral was responsible for these “irregularities” and what action was being taken against those implicated. When was the violation of internal control measures first spotted? Has anyone been suspended? At what stage is the investigation? How deep does the rot run?
Instead, we got a generic undertaking that he would “not hesitate” to act against the board if there was evidence it was derelict in the execution of its fiduciary duties and that he expected it, in turn, not to hesitate in implementing “consequence management against those found culpable”.
So Mr Fix-It, what is the time frame for a media briefing on that?
It was also announced that “an independent public institution with infrastructure procurement expertise” will assist with awarding the new tenders. What is that entity? And is Sanral’s procurement division now being paid to sit on its hands and do nothing?
The admission also reveals there are still many state capture stooges who continue to work within government departments and state-owned entities, and who, despite the state capture inquiry, continue their corrupt ways. We need to prioritise their exposure and rooting out. Decisive and transparent action is key.
The rebooting of the tender process is a blow to an economy in a critical condition and a construction industry gasping for work. The SA Forum of Civil Engineering Contractors says the cancellations of the tenders will create a crisis in the construction industry and hold back the recovery of the broader economy.
We hope that, to rebuild SA and its battered international reputation, the new process is done correctly and quickly.
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