The shocking uncovering of another incident where best practise procurement was flouted by the DA belies the very DA's professed commitment to clean and transparent governance. Consequently the ANC demands the DA to allow a proper scrutiny of the facts and figures pertaining to the award of a multimillion Rand contract to a communication company.
It is the umpteenth time where regular processes where circumvented by a DA government, starting in Cape Town where deviations amounting to R2 billion were incurred when then mayor Helen Zille delayed the building and overshot the budget by billions of Rand with the construction and services at the stadium in Green Point as well as steep hikes on other projects like the building of roads and the bus lane to Blaauwberg.
The DA is under a cloud of a long list of claims such as alleged corrupt practises in areas where it rules like the Gauteng municipality of Midvaal (questionable land transactions and sale of houses for the poor), Stellenbosch (perjury with falsified signature), Swellendam (illicit financial and land transactions), Eden (bribery) and Cape Town (various cases of tampering with waiting lists for housing and extortion of motorists with outstanding traffic fines).
It therefore comes as somewhat of a surprise that the DA still does not learn its lesson to live up to its own pontificated set standards of clean and transparent governance, by appointing a PR company to polish its image and influence citizens a few months ahead of this year's municipal elections.
The DA's use of taxpayers' money to fund its communication drive by reinventing the wheel (as is the brief for a new image, branding and corporate identity) is tantamount to wasteful expenditure as this provincial government has a strong public image and no competition!
The DA has to answer many questions by the electorate why it chose to follow this route to buy media exposure amounting to hundreds of millions of Rand over two years from one company only acting as agent for this government - especially since it employs large numbers of communication experts full time that could drive the task in-house and centralised certain services in the premier's department.
Some of these unanswered questions are: Was the appointment of the company Yardstick done in the prescribed competitive manner by using the public tender route; why the initial adjudication process had to be restarted three times; why was extra companies invited to submit proposals; why politically appointed advisors in a highly irregular step took part in the adjudication and supply chain management process; why were small and medium enterprises (SMME's) excluded by the demand that tenderers had to be JSE listed; why was the concerns of the treasury not properly dealt with, that the process and certain matters were found wanting as it lacked control measures and good governance principles?
Further to this, the outsourced task to Yardstick is questioned to determine the best bidder on behalf of the supply chain process. Was proper scorecards kept, why was Yardstick paid to do the job of the supply chain team and why was recommendation from third party agents called to appoint Yardstick seemingly without following the prescribed public tender process?
Why was new tenders not issued to allow fresh bids to come to the party half a year after the awarding of the first contract for the department of the premier only? Instead it was arbitrarily extended to include the work of all departments with huge budgets for communication! Jointly these departments may spend up to half a billion Rand per year - keeping in mind this is a two year contract!
The biggest question remains: Why did the provincial cabinet decide to extend the contract to all departments, instructed director general Brett Gerber to order heads of departments to sign back-dated contracts with one preferred company only and is such dealings allowed?
The ANC says premier Helen Zille must come completely clean on this matter and her protestations or attack on the messenger(s) proves there is not a real reason or substance in the arguments raised by her party.
The ANC demands a proper forensic investigation, that the Auditor General and the Public Protector be involved, and that the companies and all other parties must tender the information and document they have to ensure a speedy investigation.
The ANC in the Western Cape provincial legislature will pursue the matter on every level with probing questions and request all affected oversight committees to investigate the matter thoroughly. The ANC will call on National Treasury to brief the legislature on tender policies.
The DA must now be submitted to the same measures as it so regularly preach about and want other allegations to be dealt with.
The ANC says the DA's chief party strategist, Ryna Coetzee, who is also implicated in this matter of maladministration and poor governance, should be suspended until the investigation has been completed.
Statement issued by Songezo Mjongile, ANC Western Cape Provincial secretary and Pierre Uys, spokesperson on corruption, August 14 2011
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