The City of Joburg has terminated a R161-million contract for the provision of fire engines after it was discovered that the tender was awarded on the basis of forged Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) documents.
Executive Mayor Clr Herman Mashaba said the agreement, which was entered into in 2015, was allegedly made on condition that the contractor furnish the city with a performance guarantee of R16-million and demonstrate that it had sufficient cash flow to enable delivery.
“A purchase order of R19-million was also issued in favour of a contractor for delivery of the first set of fire engines to the city,” Mashaba said in a statement issued on November 19. “Alarm bells rang after the contractor not only failed to provide the performance guarantee but also failed to deliver the 29 new fire engines per the contract.”
Mashaba said the contractor has since been placed under business rescue proceedings.
“Upon investigation by the city’s new head of group legal services, Isaac Mogashoa, it appeared that the minutes from the BEC which sat to adjudicate proposals for the tender were forged,” he said.
The city has obtained sworn statements from the members of the BEC.
“We are working with law enforcement authorities to investigate the matter,” said Mashaba.
