Cape Town's infamous freeways to nowhere are turning into highways to hell for city officials.
Seven months after plans to deal with the 40-year-old eyesores were described as "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape one of the most valuable and iconic precincts in the Mother City", they are mired in delays, controversy and allegations of wrongdoing.
In a letter to six rival bidders last month, city manager Achmat Ebrahim said he had scrapped the bid evaluation committee after he "developed some discomfort" with its composition and processes.
Two sources with intimate knowledge of the committee's work told the Sunday Times this week that external auditors Moore Stephens and three committee members raised a red flag about a senior official's alleged bias towards one of the bids.One source claimed Melissa Whitehead, the city's transport commissioner, discussed the bids with mayor Patricia de Lille and mayoral committee member Brett Herron, and had admitted this to the committee.
"The commissioner clearly favoured a particular bid and did everything in her power to promote that bid while threatening and trying to coerce the other committee members, who all report to her," the source said. "The bid ... is a financial disaster and of highly questionable viability."
The source claimed this resulted in a deadlock in the committee and that it was "clear to the auditors that there was a major problem and that the city was at extreme reputational and financial risk".
Another source said: "You have six bidders that have spent an awful lot of time and money producing bids in good faith on a tender for a property development which runs into multibillions of rand.
"If the process was somehow manipulated and these bidders asked questions about it, you can understand the city has potential ... liability which could run into the tens if not hundreds of millions of rand."
In 2016 the City of Cape Town called for proposals to resolve the problem of three unfinished freeways, ease congestion and provide affordable housing. In return, developers would get access to 6ha under and between the Foreshore freeways.
Herron unveiled the six qualifying proposals in March. The Sunday Times can reveal that they were from Group Five, the V&A Waterfront, Grand Parade Investments, DHK, StudioMAS and Urban Dynamics.Herron said the final shortlist would be ready by July. But on September 5, Ebrahim wrote to the six companies, saying: "I have reconstituted a multidisciplinary bid evaluation committee which will be starting the evaluation process afresh."
A member of the original committee, council director of urban catalytic planning Frank Cumming, told the Sunday Times this week that Ebrahim wrote to him on September 1 removing him from the committee without giving reasons, and that he had since been fired.
"I am challenging my dismissal from the city and have also referred concerns I raised with the city manager in relation to the bid evaluation committee to the public protector," said Cumming.
Whitehead confirmed that Ebrahim had asked her to recuse herself from the committee but dismissed allegations of bias as unfounded and defamatory. "The project has been following a very strict process in terms of supply chain management," she said.
Ebrahim also rejected the claims, saying the city's auditors told him the committee had deadlocked on key criteria. "Reasons are of an internal, confidential nature."
But he insisted that in spite of the original committee being scrapped, "a thorough, fair and transparent process was indeed executed. There is thus no need for any action to be taken against any staff member flowing from the reconstitution of the committee.
"I can also confirm that at no point ... did the independent assurance provider allege that Ms Whitehead discussed the details of the technical evaluation process with any political functionary."
Moore Stephens director Gillian Bolton declined to comment.
Jean-Luc Limacher, a director of Urban Dynamics, worked with Whitehead in the Johannesburg city council planning department from 1988 to 1995. He said he could not answer questions because of confidentiality agreements. The other bidders and committee members either declined to answer questions or referred the Sunday Times to the City of Cape Town.
Herron and De Lille also dismissed the allegations. The issue is expected to be dealt with this week at the DA's internal inquiry into Cape Town governance issues...