WHOLESALE government corruption has been blamed for the closure of Port Elizabeth events company Frontier Events and popular eatery The Cash Store.
This comes as the Sardinia Bay company and restaurant has left creditors R10-million out of pocket and 36 people without jobs.
Owner Doug Pudney, in an affidavit signed when the company underwent business rescue, blamed the position the business was in on government officials' demands for kickbacks.
Pudney said in the affidavit that Frontier was often asked to "lift an invoice of say R500000 by R250000 and pay R50000 to each of five special people" or face losing the tender to out-of-town companies.
He said he had refused to pay the bribes, resulting in him not getting the tenders.
"Sadly, the few national government projects we did every year were also lost as we could not pay commissions to politicians and government staff," he said.
He also alleges that even though "corrupt comrade-owned Johannesburg companies" did substandard work, with tents that fell down and infrastructure not delivered, the state department "never moaned or returned their custom to us". Also making life difficult was the fact that comrades or department staff were suddenly winning tenders for which they either wrote the specifications or asked Frontier to write them.
"Our very specific specifications would appear in the event tender adverts and we were informed in advance as to whose turn it was to win the tender," Pudney said.
"This happened time and time again, and we were informed before the tender was actually advertised who would contact us and appoint us as the sub-contractor for the event."
He claimed this was when the system evolved and the company was told to increase the invoice and pay the "five special people".
Pudney said the corrupt officials were in Bhisho and in the Nelson Mandela Bay council.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Pudney said he stood by what he had said in the affidavit.
"You cannot put false information into a document," he said.
"This has been a major challenge to our business because if you want to do the job you have to do XYZ to do it.
"This is nothing new and I have spoken to [DA Eastern Cape deputy leader] Bobby Stevenson in the past, to ask his advice. It happens in other industries as well."
Because he was unwilling to conduct his business in this manner, he had lost out on various tenders.
"I would rather go out of business than be involved in that type of corruption. I am never going to do it.
"However, I am devastated for our staff and our regular clientele who used us exclusively. This has not been easy to go through," he said.
He did not know the names of the government officials involved in the alleged scams.
"If I had names, I would have gone to the police," he said.
"I would receive phone calls from unknown numbers. It was a very sophisticated approach.
"Usually when a tender was advertised, we would immediately hear whose turn it was to get it. It made it difficult to run a business."
But ANC regional secretary Zandisile Qupe said he had not heard about the alleged corruption.
"He should go to the police if he has information on corruption," he said.
Municipal spokesman Roland Williams also encouraged Pudney to provide details of his allegations to the authorities so that they could be investigated.
"The procurement of goods and services is presided over by an expert supply-chain management office, objectively assisted by bid committees which operate within the dictates of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and the SCM policy.
"Should Mr Pudney have any information that this duty is not being carried out correctly or outside of the legislated framework, we encourage him to bring such information forward so that the allegations can be investigated," Williams said.
He said employees were not allowed to do business with the municipality and if Pudney had information to the contrary, he should give it to the relevant authorities to be investigated.
A senior manager in the office of the premier, Mxolisi Spondo, said there were anti-corruption units in each of the departments at provincial level which were tasked to deal with this type of corruption.
"If this service provider has information and can back it up with evidence, it should be reported.
"The tender process is a very tight and strict process and there are bid evaluation committees, bid adjudication committees and bid awarding committees to ensure that the process is fair," he said.
Stevenson confirmed that Pudney and another business owner had approached him with regard to their unhappiness with the way the department of sports, arts and culture issued tenders for events.
"I raised the issue at a Scopa [standing committee on public accounts] meeting and was assured that it would be investigated," he said.
"I followed up on the forensic audit about two months ago and was told that the investigation was nearing completion." - Lee-Anne Butler and Angela Daniels