Maile takes Tshwane mayor to task over 'irregular' R26bn energy contract

Gauteng human settlements and co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Lebogang Maile has asked City of Tshwane mayor Randall Williams to respond to allegations of impropriety levelled against him.

The DA government in Tshwane is accused of trying to influence a tender process to award an energy contract through an unsolicited bid procedure.

This week Williams came under fire over allegations that he attempted to flout municipal procurement processes by pushing for a contract to refurbish two of the city’s aged power stations, at a cost of R26bn, to be awarded without going on public tender.

The contract would see the city entering into a 30-year contract with Kratos Energy to refurbish and maintain the Rooiwal and the Pretoria West power substations, which have been out of service since 2014. It is envisioned the deal could supply the city with 800MW of power and help it avoid Eskom load-shedding. 

The city believes the company possesses special skills to see through the project and there was no need to put the contract out for public tender. 

However, ActionSA and some DA-led coalition partners are not convinced.

A voice recording emerged this week in which Randall can be heard allegedly pushing city officials to go ahead with the project despite their objections.

The ANC said the recording proved Williams had issued illegal and irregular instructions to city officials and had interfered in the procurement processes.

Maile on Wednesday entered the fray with a letter to Williams saying the allegations against him were “very serious”. He has given Williams seven days to respond to the allegations levelled against him regarding the push for an unsolicited bid and said “the response must include relevant and applicable supporting documentation that has a bearing on the matter”.

Williams must, according to Maile, also provide him with reasons why he should not launch an investigation against him.

Williams’ alleged insistence on the contract to be pushed through has fractured relations with ActionSA in the DA-led coalition. The party is said to be toying with the idea of leaving the coalition in the city.

The DA on Tuesday had to abandon its move to place the report to go ahead with public consultations on the unsolicited bid before council after ActionSA called for the coalition to vote against it.

DA leader in the Gauteng legislature Solly Msimanga said the stance by the coalition partners to vote against the motion was disappointing as it was meant to help the city deal with load-shedding.

He said the contract was meant to lease the two substations to a consortium of private  companies who want to invest in clean alternative energy generation.

“The lease will not only save the city R300m a year in maintenance costs, it could unlock private sector investment not currently available to the city and that could create 30,000 new jobs,” Msimanga said.

“In essence, the project is one possible answer to the question every metro in the country must be asking itself: How can we diversify our electricity supply, become less dependent on Eskom and minimise load-shedding?”

He said the instruction for ActionSA councillors to vote against the motion showed party leader Herman Mashaba was arrogant and wanted the coalition to succeed only if he can impose his will.

ActionSA Gauteng leader Bongani Baloyi said they were concerned the proposal was illegal “and represents the kind of bad governance multiparty coalitions sought to displace when taking office”.

He said there was no explanation on which legal requirements the unsolicited bid met, there were written concerns raised by provincial and National Treasury on the proposal, and there were “inappropriate levels of involvement” by the office of the mayor which were “highly irregular”.

Baloyi said it was unclear if the company in question had a National Energy Regulator of SA-approved licence to produce electricity.

He threatened that ActionSA would approach the public protector, the National Treasury, the Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit should Williams put the report before council.

The DA ended up withdrawing the motion and placing it on hold.

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