Contractor in R1,1 million solar-light tender batle
LANGA Powa is planning to sue the Lephalale Municipality after the R1,1 million solar lighting tender that was awarded to them in December 2012 was cancelled
ILANGA Powa is planning to sue the Lephalale Municipality after the R1,1 million solar lighting tender that was awarded to them in December 2012 was cancelled after, according to them, they refused to pay the R60 000 bribe demanded of them.
A senior official from Ilanga Powa who spoke to CV on condition of anonymity said the municipality provisionally awarded a contract to Ilanga Powa in December last year to install solar lighting on certain streets of nearby informal settlements. He said all that remained to be done were formalities such as the signing of the Service Level Agreement.
“We as the service provider began digging holes to install the solar poles. During this period, one of the directors of Ilanga Powa was contacted telephonically by a person who represented himself as a municipal official who demanded a R60 000 bribe. When this request was refused by the director, all municipal officials who were dealing with this tender began to refuse to deal with our company,” he alleged.
“All efforts by our company to conclude the deal were in vain. This continued until the company was contacted by telephone and informed that the contract had been cancelled. No reasons were given. The only plausible explanation is that this company was penalised because it refused to pay the requested R60 000 bribe,” he said, adding that there were two tenders they were working on, so they would have had to pay a total of R120 000.
“The municipality then sent us an e-mail informing us that they were cancelling the contract. They must e-mail us a copy of the cancellation letter. It is disgusting what they have done; we are going to take them to task. Our attorney is coming next week to deal with them. We are going to sue them for the damages,” he said.
DA Limpopo caucus leader, Desiree van der Walt said she would be submitting a Promotion of Access to Information Act application to the municipality to request all the documents relating to this tender, including the written reasons why it was cancelled in the manner that it was.
Municipal spokesperson Nakampe Monyepao denied all knowledge of any bribe being requested. He said the reason for the termination of the contract was made very clear to Ilanga Powa.
According to him Ilanga Powa indicated to the municipality that they did not have the financial resources to deliver the required services. He said Ilanga Powa even requested the municipality to sign a cession and pay the supplier directly.
“We advertised a tender to install solar lighting on designated streets and the nearby informal settlement. Ilanga Powa competed with other service providers in an open and transparent competitive process. The tender was awarded to Ilanga Powa in January and was supposed to start the process of installing solar lights on January 31 and end on April 30. Ilanga Powa dug holes but could not continue with the process as, according to them, they did not have enough financial resources.
“Realising that the lack of financial resources would have a negative impact on our service delivery we communicated with Ilanga Powa with the intention of finding a suitable solution. It was then suggested that the municipality pay the Chinese supplier directly,” he said.
“After several discussions with Ilanga Powa, we requested surety from them before considering their proposal. Ilanga Powa submitted two properties, namely T16 and T17 as surety. We requested proof of the two residences (properties) and recent evaluation mentioned as surety. Ilanga Powa e-mailed them to us but upon verification we discovered that the two properties were not registered in their name but it was a bond in the name of the husband of one of the members of Ilanga Powa. This could not be considered because this husband is not even a member of Ilanga Powa. This basically means the house still belongs to the bank,” he said.
“So the allegation that the municipality failed to respond to e-mails is wrong and misleading. It then became obvious that all our efforts to assist Ilanga Powa were not succeeding and we made this clear to them. As a municipality we abide by legislations governing local government, especially the Municipal Finance Management Act.
“Given the situation we found ourselves in we then considered the option of terminating the contract as we can no longer drag the provision of solar lightning any longer,” Monyepao said.
