Smart meter fiasco picks up speed
Tshwane executive mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa may be subpoenaed to appear before Public Protector Thuli Madonsela regarding the ill-fated prepaid smart meter contract.
The fall-out over Tshwane metro’s billion rand prepaid smart water meter fiasco is still gaining momentum – this time with Public Protector Thuli Madonsela gunning for Tshwane executive mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa.
Madonsela announced this week she was conducting her own investigation into the now cancelled contract between the metro and Peu Capital Partners and that she would subpoena the mayor to appear before her in person after the metro had failed to provide adequate information to her office.
Only some 12 900 smart meters were installed between late 2013 and June this year when the contract was ended at a cost of R800 million to Tshwane ratepayers. In terms of the exit agreement the metro will still have to pay Peu some R1,2 billion until July 2017.
Meanwhile the metro had asked for new tenders to replace Peu as a service provider.
Madonsela’s announcement follows closely on the heels of an instruction by Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Pravin Gordhan to Gauteng MEC Jacob Mamabolo to investigate the circumstances around the awarding of the contract in 2013 despite warnings against doing so by the national government.
Gordhan, at the time Finance minister, was among several national government officials who warned Tshwane in 2013 not to enter into the agreement with Peu as, among other reasons, the costs would be exorbitant.
Madonsela indicated she would subpoena Ramokgopa to appear before her in person at her Hatfield offices after her investigators battled to obtain the required information from metro officials.
Ramokgopa would be required to explain why Tshwane had failed to furnish her with the “necessary information” needed to conclude the investigation into the ill-fated contract.
Gordhan, in his request to the MEC, also indicated that information provided by Tshwane metro did not enable him to reply adequately to the parliamentary questions on the matter. This prompted him to instruct Mamabolo to investigate and report back to him in 90 days.
Madonsela said her office had been investigating the awarding of the contract to Peu after an undisclosed service provider complained to her office.
According to Public Protector spokesman Oupa Segalwe, the service provider had alleged that their company was not considered when the smart prepaid contract was awarded. The company claimed it was the first to submit a proposal to the Tshwane metro on the concept of prepaid smart meters.
Madonsela also asked Gordhan to suspend the departmental investigation into the smart meter contract until she had concluded her probe.
She appealed to Gordhan not to duplicate the process, but rather support the finalisation of the investigation and then decide what to do with the outcome.
Madonsela said she recently received another complaint relating to the smart meter contract. This month, she met the complainants and advised them on the problems faced in investigating the matter to date. She also informed them of the subpoenas and hearing as part of the plan to expedite the finalisation of the investigation.
Segalwe said Madonsela would write to Ramokgopa, requesting that the new contract should not be awarded before the conclusion of her investigation.
Tshwane mayoral spokesman Blessing Manale was not available for comment immediately, but had been reported as saying that it was not correct to say that Ramokgopa had not provided Madonsela’s office with the required response at the time.
“It is our understanding that we have provided the office of the public protector with the response required,” Manale said.
“It is a different matter if the public protector found such response to be insufficient, and in this instance, we are in consultation to explore avenues to make such available as requested and permissible.”
He said Ramokgopa had no reason not to co-operate with Madonsela.
“The mayor will continue to co-operate, whether requested by Madonsela through a subpoena or any other available mechanism.”
In July, cases of corruption and fraud were opened against Ramokgopa and Tshwane city manager Jason Ngobeni at the Pretoria Central police station by Mafika Mahlangu and Joel Mbatha “on behalf of the people of Tshwane” regarding the Peu contract.
At the beginning of this month, the DA also laid criminal charges against the two men regarding the contract.
Also read:
PEU meter scandal to be investigated
DA seeks urgent forensic investigation over PEU
Smart meters not all that smart
Tshwane metro slams allegations of financial mismanagement in smart meter plan
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 072 435 7717.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
- We have exciting news! We’re offering a free alert to help you always be in the loop. Send an email with the word ‘Subscribe’ to breakingnews@rekord.co.za to receive your free daily breaking news update.
