Meeting covers tender topic
MIDRAND – Midrand community members were not happy with the City's efforts in trying to include them in the decisions relating to the future of the Metropolitan Trading Company.
The Metropolitan Trading Company (MTC), which owns City of Johannesburg’s fibre infrastructure, held a public meeting on 15 August at the Midrand Fire Station in Midrand.
The aim of the meeting, according to the company’s chief financial officer Luyanda Gidini, was to present their current business model and get their views on whether they should sell their assets or not because of financial difficulties the company is facing.
Community members raised a number of questions, some of which related to the tender process of the City which claims to have advertised it but the members said they never saw it. Residents also questioned the reasons behind the need to sell the assets, as well as the late communication of the meeting by the City.
Ward 112 councillor Lerato Mphefo, who recently won the by-election, said in an interview afterwards that what she picked up about the meeting was that the communication notice from the City regarding the meeting was rather too short.
“A lot of people got the communication only in the afternoon for a meeting that was to start at 6pm, which was unfair because people have lives and commitments and they need to get these notices in time so that they can manage their diaries properly,” she added.
Community member Mandla Ngcobo told the Midrand Reporter about his unhappiness regarding the City process around the tender.
According to him, the City first opened the tender and then closed it, and then decided to seek public opinion on the matter afterwards, thereby trying to legitimise the tender process. “The City was supposed to come to the public first with its ideas and lay them on the table as their suggestions and then ask the community to comment on them.
“They cannot make decisions and implement them and only come to the public later to justify.”
At the end of the meeting, the MTC, CFO Luyanda Gidini said they would request the City to arrange for another public meeting and for the tender process to be looked at again so residents are satisfied.
Related Article:
https://www.citizen.co.za/midrand-reporter/195354/councillor-previews-ward-112-public-meeting/
