The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Phokwane municipality is questioning delays in the awarding of the tender for the Jan Kempdorp waste water treatment works and wants the assurance that further project holdups will not culminate in emergency procurement, as has become a trend in the municipality.
With regards to the R33 million tender, it was advertised but apparently had to be cancelled due to some technicalities. At this stage, the tender is in the process of re-advertisement. Given that the project is funded by the Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG), the municipality risks losing this funding if it is not spent timeously. Our concern is that, as in the past, the municipality might attempt to justify the use of emergency procurement processes, to avoid losing these funds.
The DA previously raised our concern regarding the procurement of goods on an emergency basis, after increasing abuse of the system to bypass Supply Chain Management (SCM) Processes.
We will pose questions regarding the re-advertisement of the waste water tender, also calling for transparency regarding the so-called technicalities, at the ordinary council meeting scheduled for 30 September. We are also hoping to eventually table a motion, already submitted in July, calling for bold procurement reform, including the placement of limitations on emergency procurement.
This is increasingly important given a number of multi-million rand projects in the pipeline, aimed at improving both clean water and waste water treatment plants for Phokwane. This includes the refurbishment and upgrading of the Hartswater water plant at a cost of R37million, funded by the 2025/2026 Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG), which is due to be advertised in December 2025.
Poor planning doesn’t justify the unnecessary use of emergency procedures to facilitate the procurement of these services.
People of Phokwane deserve real service delivery that is driven by a clean and corruption free municipality, not services driven by underhanded dealings.