Tshwane denies service delivery collapse looming
Tshwane administrator has refuted claims that residents were set to face service delivery disruptions this month, due to expiration of one of the metro’s core service delivery tenders.
The DA Tshwane mayoral candidate Randall Williams said the party had learnt that one of the metro’s core service delivery tenders to lease construction vehicles, refuse removal trucks and specialist yellow plant machines as well as equipment, had expired on Tuesday, Pretoria Rekord reports.
“With no contract in place, from 1 September, operations in the metro will grind to a halt, as departments are no longer able to provide crucial basic service delivery to Tshwane residents, with no vehicles or equipment.”
Williams alleged that the metro also had no new tender set to replace it.
“The CSS46 tender in question allows the metro to hire key service delivery vehicles and equipment as and when they are required. Multiple departments across the city are dependent on this tender to support their operations.”
He said this included refuse removal trucks, tractor loader backhoes used by the water and sanitation teams to respond to leaks, and specialist electricity trucks.
Williams claimed that the original awarding of the tender, which took place under the ANC administration prior 2016, “was in itself problematic and offered poor value for money for the metro”.
“Prior to the ANC’s power grab in Tshwane five months ago, the DA had begun a process of extracting the metro from the contract and restructuring the tender to derive more value from it.”
He said that this work was undone when the ANC “unlawfully dissolved the municipal council and placed the Tshwane metro under administration”.
“The ANC administrators subsequently extended the existing faulty CSS46 contract, which expired on 31 August,” Williams said, adding that the metro had received more than 700 bids for the new tender (CSS003) which closed in July.
“To date, the tender has not been adjudicated or awarded. As a result, they have compromised the municipality’s operational efficiency to an even greater extent than they had already done over the past five months, due to their incompetence.”
Administrator Mpho Nawa said the contract had not ended as it had been extended.
“The contract has been extended for a month, until we conclude processes (to the tender).
“I deny what the DA is claiming that there won’t be services. Nothing of this sort will disrupt or stop service delivery.”
He said services would indeed continue in Tshwane.
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