Durban — The DA has called on the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) to stop all payments to companies that have been flagged until a probe into tenders awarded for the rebuilding of flood-hit infrastructure is completed.
The call comes after a preliminary report by the Auditor-General (AG) of SA on DPWI tenders to rebuild state-owned properties damaged by the April floods has revealed widespread risks of corruption.
DA public works and infrastructure shadow minister Samantha Graham-Maré said: “These funds are meant to rebuild crucial infrastructure and it is disheartening, but hardly surprising, that these funds are in danger of being looted.”
The AG recommended an investigation into instances of non-compliance to determine the cause of the risks and requested that irregular expenditure identified in the projects should be included in the 2022/23 annual financial statements. The AG’s office has also referred the matter to the labour relations and legal services unit to investigate further.
“The DA calls upon the DPWI to refuse all payments to any company that has been flagged until the investigation is completed,” Graham-Maré said.
The AG’s report has flagged:
- Tenders to companies owned by the same director;
- Service providers owned by state employees;
- Suppliers that did not appear on the government’s central supplier database;
- Service providers approached by DPWI using an unfair deviation process that failed to provide market analysis to assess price reasonability;
- Five quotations exceeding R1 million were awarded to the same company;
- The quoted amount by service providers exceeding the authorised amount;
- Quotations received after the contractor had commenced on site; and
- Projects not completed within the stipulated time.
Graham-Maré added that the DPWI’s blatant circumvention of tender procurement processes has proven yet again that the ANC government cannot be trusted. Clearly, nothing has been learnt from previous scandals and any company or official found to have committed any wrongdoing should face the full might of the law. Any officials involved in any tender wrongdoing should be fired immediately.
“After state capture, we were promised that there would be no more corruption; when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, we were promised that there would be no PPE corruption; when the floods came in KZN, President Cyril Ramaphosa promised that there would be no corruption in tenders and procurement, yet here we are,” Graham-Maré said.
“The ANC’s continuous decline means the possibility that a competent DA-led coalition will govern South Africa from 2024 where good governance and accountability will be the order of the day.”
Last Tuesday, DPWI Minister Patricia de Lille said she held a meeting with the office of the AG who also visited the projects to conduct live audits on the work and financial processes.
The AG briefed her on their initial findings, which are being further scrutinised and findings on this will be tabled in a final audit report by the AG on the DPWI’s flood-intervention projects in KZN.
De Lille said that the AG’s office also confirmed that the matter has been referred to the labour relations and legal services unit to investigate further.
“When I was first notified of the above information by the AG’s office, I immediately asked whether we could stop payments to contractors until the full investigations and final audits are completed,” De Lille said.
“The regional manager of DPWI in KZN has confirmed that no services have been paid thus far. All payments and services will be subject to approval and ratification by the relevant committees such as the bid adjudication committee and delegated authority.”
De Lille said that in order to investigate the flags raised by the AG’s office further, the department’s internal audit unit will also conduct an audit on the KZN flood intervention projects.
“These initial findings are disappointing and worrying and I will work with the department and AG’s office to get to the bottom of all risks identified and where there is clear evidence of wrongdoing, we will ensure that officials face serious consequences,” De Lille said.
“It is extremely disappointing that we continue to see such flags being raised on work where government is needing to respond to an emergency and bring about service delivery to people in need in a responsible manner.”
Daily News