The man meant to stand in as the interim acting city manager in Nelson Mandela Bay, Walter Shaidi, and the acting chief financial officer, Jackson Ngcelwane, were nowhere to be found on Thursday when SMMEs were piling on the pressure for work packages.
Hundreds of small business owners shut down two of the city’s main administration buildings – Lillian Diedericks and Mfanasekhaya Gqobose – in Port Elizabeth’s Govan Mbeki Avenue, preventing staff from reporting for work.
Mayor Mongameli Bobani has blamed officials for not signing off on appointing the 600 SMMEs to clean drains at a cost of R18m.
“Today, surprisingly, all my officials that are supposed to implement this particular process that we’ve agreed on are on sick leave,” Bobani said.
“Strangely enough, even I am questioning how can all my officials who are on a senior level all be sick – and especially today when they were supposed to ensure this is implemented,” he said.
However, despite claims that he was off sick, Ngcelwane said later that he was at the office and had had a meeting with the National Treasury.
“I might have not answered my phone because I was in meetings from 8am,” he said.
The SMME owners vowed they would be at City Hall on Friday to ensure the work packages were signed off.
This, despite the fact that the city is obligated by law to ensure that proper supply chain management processes and competitive bidding is followed in awarding work.
The council also has to approve any amendments to the budget.
The political principals have instructed officials to take R18m meant for infrastructure projects and temporary Expanded Public Works Programme jobs to accommodate 600 SMMEs that have demanded work before Christmas.
The metro has already cleaned stormwater drains around the city and has spent 70% of its budget for it in this financial year.
The SMME owners gathered outside the Lillian Diedericks building early on Thursday in an attempt to ambush Shaidi into giving them clarity on when they could expect their work packages.
When they were satisfied that no work would be conducted inside the building, they boarded taxis and bakkies and drove off to the Mount Road police station, where they sought the assistance of the police in tracking down Shaidi, acting municipal manager Peter Neilson and Ngcelwane on the phone.
A brigadier, identified only as Groenewald, attempted to get city officials on the phone, but without success.
Speaking on a cellphone while surrounded by eager SMME owners, Groenewald said: “Can someone speak to them now? Who can I say they can speak to?
“No, don’t give me the office number because no-one is going to pick up. I need a cell number.
“Mr [ Anele] Qaba [economic development, tourism and agriculture executive director], where is he?
“Where is [chief operating officer Mzwake] Clay?
“Apparently the mayor told these people [SMME owners] he can’t do anything because the people that must sign their documents are on leave.”
As Groenewald spoke, the SMME owners applauded and shouted “yes”. Black business caucus co-ordinator Lithemba Singaphi said it seemed as if there were two municipal headquarters – one run by officials and another by politicians.
“To us, it tells us we’ve got a crisis in the metro and we’re not sure where they [officials] are taking their mandate [from],” Singaphi said.
He accused Shaidi of deliberately staying away from the office because he wanted to stall the whole process which, he said, was legal as the “political leadership had followed all prescripts of the law”.
“We’re meant to receive information regarding work packages so the programme could be rolled out by the mayor on Friday, but it’s unfortunate that since Wednesday all executive directors have taken leave without informing the mayor as to why, when they know they were needed to finalise the process.
“The documentation that was meant to be forwarded to Shaidi [has not because] Shaidi decided not to show up for work, including the other EDs and the CFO,” Singaphi said.
Singaphi said Bobani had told them that the officials meant to process the work packages had not pitched up for work and had all switched off their phones.
He said the matter would be dealt with properly at the upcoming council meeting in December at the Nangoza Jebe Hall in New Brighton.
“All we are saying is that heads must roll. That process must continue because they are sabotaging the political mandate,” Singaphi said.
He blamed Shaidi for the SMME “crisis” and said he should not bother coming back to work, adding that officials who did not toe the political line and hand out work packages must go.
“As a matter of fact, their contracts are ending in March so they might as well get their salaries sitting at home because, in any case, it’s not new for this city to have actings and actings,” Singaphi said.
Bobani backed Singaphi’s statement that everything had been done within the prescripts of the law.
“This thing is above board. “This thing is legal, there’s nothing wrong and we’ve got a legal opinion,” he said.
“We told officials we cannot implement this thing as politicians because it is going to be interference, therefore the officials have absconded.
“This is not about doing a favour to SMMEs, this is more about service delivery because people in townships can’t spend their December with overflowing drains.
“And we’re saving money as the municipality by appointing SMMEs instead of using private companies,” Bobani said.
Meanwhile, Neilson, who was out of town for two days at an Eskom-related conference, said Shaidi was ill and that he [Neilson] was dealing with urgent matters via his phone.
Neilson said he was aware of the SMME problem but was not fully aware of any decision that had been taken around work packages.
He said Ngcelwane had stipulated that there were budget and supply chain processes that needed to be followed.
Neilson will be back at work on Friday.