City officials named in tender scam

The report notes that in a guilty plea before Durban's Commercial Crime Court, James Bowie details how he and the officials worked together and laid a false charge of fraud against his business partner, Sean Murphy. At the time, Murphy was a partner and Bowie a member in a close corporation which, through a joint venture, had a multimillion-rand lift tender with the city. Murphy was simultaneously competing for a lucrative air-conditioning contract. Bowie says the charge was laid to ensure Murphy was 'blacklisted' by the council. This would have barred him from receiving any money from the existing contract or getting any new contracts. The written plea, which was accepted by magistrate Kim de Freitas last week, appears to bolster Murphy's R20m civil claim against the municipality for 'ruining his business'. Murphy's case made headlines earlier this year when he subpoenaed senior officials, including municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe and procurement head Derek Naidoo, to explain to the Durban High Court why his air-conditioning company, Avax SA, was stopped from performing on a tender it was awarded in September 2006. Bowie pleaded guilty to a charge of perjury and received a suspended sentence for 'misrepresenting fabricated facts' to the police about Murphy. Martin and council officials Roland Eberle and Lindsay North are all facing criminal charges relating to the perjury charge, the report notes. Full report in The Mercury (subscription needed)

In another tender scandal, the DA leader in Johannesburg, Mike Moriarty, says the City of Johannesburg has to cancel a contract it has with a consortium led by Global Event Management (GEM) to manage the iconic Soccer City stadium. This call comes in the wake of a weekend newspaper report, suggesting that shares were handed to a security guard three months before a lucrative tender was published. The Sunday Times reported that 43-year-old Gladwin Khangale 'bought' 26% of GEM less than a year before the consortium landed a plum tender from the city last year, to manage the Soccer City stadium for the next 10 years. The Citizen quotes Moriarty as saying: 'More details of the tender have to be shown, and this contract will have to be cancelled as it is unfavourable for the city.' Meanwhile the article further said Khangale, who lives on a dirt road in the low income township of Ratanda, Heidelberg, and who is listed as a 'human resource executive' in tender documents, did not pay a cent for the shares and denied owning any, when contacted. However, Henk Ferreira, a director of GEM and National Stadium SA reportedly said Khangale whom he conceded had not paid a cent for the shares at this stage as there is a 'deferred payment plan', was still a shareholder. Full report in The Citizen

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies had vowed to get to the bottom of the allegations about tender irregularities at the Companies and Intellectual Properties Registration Office (Cipro) and said he was seeking legal advice on the matter. Addressing a Trade and Industry Portfolio Committee meeting at the weekend, Davies said he would provide a full report to Parliament's standing committee on public accounts on 18 May. A report in Business Report notes that this follows Friday's release of the Auditor-General's investigation into Cipro's awarding of the R153m enterprise content management (ECM) system contract. The forensic report, commissioned by Davies, found that procurement strategies applied to the ECM tender by Cipro were in breach of regulations. The probe found that the tender was awarded to service provider ValorIT in March last year without evaluation of that firm's financial sustainability. Davies confirmed receipt of the forensic report on Friday as MPs questioned the amount of time it took Cipro to 'get to the point of seeking legal advice'. Full report in Business Report

President Jacob Zuma wants much quicker action taken against civil servants accused of breaches of discipline. The Sunday Times quotes Zuma as telling top government officials: 'An official does something wrong, gets a verbal warning, then a written warning and finally the person is suspended with pay while waiting to appear before the disciplinary hearing. I think the process is too democratic, is too long. It is as good as being on vacation.' Zuma's wish was that those who failed to perform or were corrupt be fired on the spot, says the report which notes he was speaking to Directors-General and deputy Directors-General of national and provincial departments. Full Sunday Times report