The lease for Upington’s renowned “Die Eiland” resort was today bulldozed through Dawid Kruiper’s Council.
The DA voted against the awarding of the lease, making our strong opposition to the manner in which the deal was handled.
This comes a week after Council gave the Municipal Manager and the Mayor free range to head-hunt a tenant, despite interest from other applicants.
By opting for a private negotiation, and refusing to open the tender to the public, the ANC council members have denied the greater Upington and provincial community, the opportunity to bid for the use of the resort.
This process would have guaranteed that the best applicant was awarded the lease.
Instead, the ANC has pushed through a lease, of which none of the finer details, including the financial implications of the lease or its tenure, are known to councillors. These critical details will instead be handed over to the tender committee, to be finalised behind closed doors. This is most definitely not in the best interests of the public, who have a vested interest in future wellbeing of the resort.
We have all seen what happened to the Gordonia Resort and Sakkie se Arkie, where the failure to place the facility on open tender resulted in endless legal battles, ultimately hampering the success of the facility and local economic growth for the region.
The route of private negotiations has also backfired on the leases for the Rose Park and Reitz Park resorts, which are also in a pitiful state, following selective awarding of the leases.
The DA will submit our written objections to the Speaker, requesting that the matter be urgently revisited. If a tender advert is placed before December, the process can be quickly but transparently finalised by the end of January.
The DA will further report our concerns to the MEC of COGHSTA, as well as the Office of the Auditor General, for investigation in the annual audit.