Businessman threatens court action over R148m in tenders

According to the report, Dladla, a former traffic officer, worked at the Johannesburg Metro Police Department for two years before resigning in 2005. Two years later, notes the report, he landed a lucrative tender to manage two driving licence testing centres (DLTCs) at Funda Centre in Diepkloof, Soweto, and in Westhoven, Johannesburg. According to the report, Dladla says he is consulting his lawyers with a view to challenging the cancellation. MEC for Roads and Transport Ismail Vadi has confirmed the R148m tender to Dladla's company, WestPoint Trading Enterprise. Vadi was responding to questions from DA Gauteng caucus leader Jack Bloom submitted in March this year. He said the department was paying R29.6m a year on average to WestPoint. However, no tender procedures had been followed since the contracts were awarded in 2007. Full report in The Star

In another tender scandal to rock Gauteng, transport head Benedicta Monama allegedly signed a R3bn contract, despite being cautioned by the provincial treasury the deal was illegal, The Star reported yesterday. According to the report, the Treasury apparently told Monama in February to halt the awarding of the contract, and later advised her against appointing WestPoint Trading Enterprises 123 to manage and operate more driving licence testing centres in the province. The report notes that the Treasury argued that the centres were not sustainable, and pointed out the poor management of cash and staff at the centres which were established to test cars' roadworthiness and learner drivers' ability. The report, which notes that Monama's political boss, Transport MEC Ismail Vadi, demanded answers, quotes Monama as saying: 'I don't want to respond to my boss in the media.' According to The Star, it could not reach West Point's managing director Zazi Dladla for comment. Full report in The Star

Another multimillion-rand tender is under scrutiny. The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) has launched an investigation into a R220m Limpopo tender contract which appears to have been awarded to a joint venture under-qualified for the job, which has links to the ANC. According to a report on the IoL site, the awarding of a 51km pipeline contract to Tlong Re Yeng Trading & Projects in conjunction with Base Major Construction has been at the centre of litigation since November. The report says one of the partners in the joint venture is related to Selby Manthata, a business associate of Limpopo Premier and ANC provincial chair Cassel Mathale. Tlong Re Yeng Trading & Projects, which has a 30% stake in the winning joint venture, is owned by Constance Malebati, who is reportedly Manthata's sister. Mathale and ANC Youth League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu have in the past defended the awarding of contracts to Manthata's Selby Construction - which also bid for the pipeline contract but was disqualified because its grading was too low. According to the report, the CIDB has requested documentation from the Mopani District municipality in order to investigate the awarding of the contract. The building industry watchdog wants to see the original tender advert and other pertinent records and documents. Full report on the IoL site