DA welcomes call by Premier on open tenders
The DA says the Ekurhuleni metro can no longer refuse to open its tender committee processes to public and media scrutiny.
This follows an announcement by the Gauteng Premier David Makhura saying that he is committed to ensuring that the Gauteng government acts on every one of the Public Protector’s recommendations, and that he wants the province’s tender processes to be open to the public.
DA Gauteng spokesperson for Finance Ashor Sarupen (MPL) says that during his time as a DA Councillor in Ekurhuleni, he tabled several measures to open up the various committees awarding tenders, but was obstructed each time by the ANC.
“A motion tabled in this regard was rejected by the Speaker of the Ekurhuleni metro in early 2011, and the DA managed to bring the issue for debate in October 2011 to the council floor during the revision of the cities Supply Chain Management Policy, at which point the ANC voted down the measure,” explains Sarupen.
Sarupen alleges that mayor Mondli Gungubele routinely dismissed his calls and attempts to open tender processes in the city up to scrutiny.
“Ekurhuleni has had countless scandals when it comes to the awarding of large scale tenders, including IT tenders, a R700-million water meter tender that is now the subject of an SIU investigation and most recently, a tender for R32-m that was awarded to undertake an institutional review,” he adds.
“If there is truly no corruption to hide in Ekurhuleni, the mayor should follow Premier Makhura’s lead and finally heed my call and institute an open tender process in the metro.
“My DA colleagues in Ekurhuleni will be re-tabling my original motion on open tender processes for adoption in the metro.” – @TumeloBoksburg
