More than 100 SMME owners protested outside the Port Elizabeth City Hall on Monday demanding money they say is owed to them by the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality for cleaning the city’s streets.
If they do not get paid, they have vowed to make the city ungovernable.
The large group claim the municipality owes them money for two months as they did work through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) to clean up the city after former mayor Mongameli Bobani promised them projects worth almost R500m.
However, a senior official working in the municipality, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety, said there was no tender process followed in the city’s administration when appointing the SMMEs.
The programme had been headed by ANC councillor Andile Lungisa.
A small-business owner, who declined to divulge her name, said there was no specific amount allocated toward the programme they were informed about.
She said they were told to work and they would get paid.
“We have gone all-out cleaning the city, especially in townships, with the hope that we will get paid.
“Lungisa was the one who launched the programme and promised it would be a three-year programme and we would work three days a week,” she said.
She said the politicians were now using Bobani’s ousting as mayor to avoid paying the SMMEs.
“The EPWP programme is small fry,” she said.
“We still want the R500m that was promised to us [by Bobani], and also the amounts that we never received payments for, the projects we worked for when they kicked out Bobani.
“We knew it was a strategy to get rid of us,” she said.
Bobani promised tenders worth R500m to SMME owners at the City Hall on October 4 — when he was facing harsh criticism from political parties who wanted him to step down as mayor.
He said the small businesses would get contracts worth R169m for 2019, starting in November.
This would be followed by tenders worth R143m in 2020 and, finally, a further R171m in contracts for the third year.
Bobani, who was ousted on December 5, had vowed that the SMMEs would be on site by November 1 — but this never happened.
Lungisa, who was addressing the SMMEs on Monday morning, promised that by the end of the same day, they would be paid.
Lungisa said there was a stand-off between the SMMEs and the municipality based on the promise of R500m to the SMMEs by Bobani.
He said due to the non-practical promise, an arrangement for intervention was made and a team led by himself and councillor Makhi Feni was established to create a programme that would benefit the SMMEs..
“We have managed to reach the municipal officials, even those who are already on holiday, and the budget and treasury official and all [of them] assured us that there would be a resolution to this,” he said.
He said that the municipal officials would go on a Christmas break and return to work on January 6, but all the individuals must be paid.
“We want SMMEs to be paid, those who were part of the programme would receive money directly [in] their bank accounts,” he said.
But a metro insider said there was no legitimate paperwork confirming that the group were part of the EPWP.
He said the EPWP had declared that there was no budget for the programme and Lungisa had simply misled the crowd.
“EPWP is meant to assist the poorest of the poor, and the SMMEs are business people who don’t qualify to be part of the programme, even the amount they demand to be paid.
“The EPWP can’t pay much,” he said.
“[Lungisa] will have to find a way to deal with this, he is the one who has been misleading the people.”
Questioned about the legalities around the appointment of the SMMEs, Lungisa told The Herald that it was not his duty to do the paperwork.
Despite promising the group on Monday morning, Lungisa denied that the SMMEs would be paid and said that a process was in place to resolve the issue around the payments.
“We have met with the leadership of the SMMEs to outline the process that would take place.
“I am a politician and I’m in no position to tell when the money is going to be available and when,” he said.
Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said he had no knowledge of the programme.
“I don’t have information regarding the programme. The person who might have answers is Andile Lungisa,” Mniki said.
SMMEs demand payment for work promised by Bobani
Image: FREDLIN ADRIAAN
More than 100 SMME owners protested outside the Port Elizabeth City Hall on Monday demanding money they say is owed to them by the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality for cleaning the city’s streets.
If they do not get paid, they have vowed to make the city ungovernable.
The large group claim the municipality owes them money for two months as they did work through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) to clean up the city after former mayor Mongameli Bobani promised them projects worth almost R500m.
However, a senior official working in the municipality, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety, said there was no tender process followed in the city’s administration when appointing the SMMEs.
The programme had been headed by ANC councillor Andile Lungisa.
A small-business owner, who declined to divulge her name, said there was no specific amount allocated toward the programme they were informed about.
She said they were told to work and they would get paid.
“We have gone all-out cleaning the city, especially in townships, with the hope that we will get paid.
“Lungisa was the one who launched the programme and promised it would be a three-year programme and we would work three days a week,” she said.
She said the politicians were now using Bobani’s ousting as mayor to avoid paying the SMMEs.
“The EPWP programme is small fry,” she said.
“We still want the R500m that was promised to us [by Bobani], and also the amounts that we never received payments for, the projects we worked for when they kicked out Bobani.
“We knew it was a strategy to get rid of us,” she said.
Bobani promised tenders worth R500m to SMME owners at the City Hall on October 4 — when he was facing harsh criticism from political parties who wanted him to step down as mayor.
He said the small businesses would get contracts worth R169m for 2019, starting in November.
This would be followed by tenders worth R143m in 2020 and, finally, a further R171m in contracts for the third year.
Bobani, who was ousted on December 5, had vowed that the SMMEs would be on site by November 1 — but this never happened.
Lungisa, who was addressing the SMMEs on Monday morning, promised that by the end of the same day, they would be paid.
Lungisa said there was a stand-off between the SMMEs and the municipality based on the promise of R500m to the SMMEs by Bobani.
He said due to the non-practical promise, an arrangement for intervention was made and a team led by himself and councillor Makhi Feni was established to create a programme that would benefit the SMMEs..
“We have managed to reach the municipal officials, even those who are already on holiday, and the budget and treasury official and all [of them] assured us that there would be a resolution to this,” he said.
He said that the municipal officials would go on a Christmas break and return to work on January 6, but all the individuals must be paid.
“We want SMMEs to be paid, those who were part of the programme would receive money directly [in] their bank accounts,” he said.
But a metro insider said there was no legitimate paperwork confirming that the group were part of the EPWP.
He said the EPWP had declared that there was no budget for the programme and Lungisa had simply misled the crowd.
“EPWP is meant to assist the poorest of the poor, and the SMMEs are business people who don’t qualify to be part of the programme, even the amount they demand to be paid.
“The EPWP can’t pay much,” he said.
“[Lungisa] will have to find a way to deal with this, he is the one who has been misleading the people.”
Questioned about the legalities around the appointment of the SMMEs, Lungisa told The Herald that it was not his duty to do the paperwork.
Despite promising the group on Monday morning, Lungisa denied that the SMMEs would be paid and said that a process was in place to resolve the issue around the payments.
“We have met with the leadership of the SMMEs to outline the process that would take place.
“I am a politician and I’m in no position to tell when the money is going to be available and when,” he said.
Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said he had no knowledge of the programme.
“I don’t have information regarding the programme. The person who might have answers is Andile Lungisa,” Mniki said.
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