The City of Tshwane has placed five officials on precautionary suspension for the controversial Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Works tender.
The officials were officially suspended on Friday, 19 April and will be receiving their full salaries.
CITY OF TSHWANE OFFICIALS SUSPENDED OVER ROOIWAL TENDER
In 2019, tenderpreneur and generous ANC donor EdwinSodi secured a R295 million tender in a joint venture with CMS Water Engineering to upgrade the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment plant. However, the contract was terminated following a forensic report indicating only 60 percent completion by 2022.
In February, Tshwane Municipal Manager Johann Mettler disclosed his request to the National Treasury to blacklist both NJR Projects and Blackhead Consulting which are linked to Sodi.
On Friday, 19 April the City of Tshwane said it suspended five officials after a year long internal disciplinary process which found the officials guilty on one of the four charges they faced.
The metro municipality said it strongly disagrees with the outcome of the disciplinary process and will appeal the entire outcome at the Labour Court.
“The City is of the view that their continued presence at the workplace, will be detrimental to the stability of the municipality,” the municipality said.
The officials were found not guilty on three charges but were found guilty one one charge and the sanction was suspension for one month without pay.
THE FIVE OFFICIALS FACED THE FOLLOWING CHARGES:
- Allowing Blackhead Consulting to progress to the following evaluation stage without being registered with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) or having the required CIDB 9CE or 9ME.
- Consensus-based decision-making instead of evaluating independently as members of the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC).
- The inclusion of Blackhead Consulting services to render professional services in circumstances where the City of Tshwane had already appointed a company. Consequently, the municipality incurred costs of R10 million.
- Evaluating the winning bidder on 1.4m belt press width when the specification required 2m width.
“The legal opinion suggested that the five implicated officials ought to have been dismissed on the finding of guilt charge 4 in line with section 14A of the Code of Conduct, and Clause 2.7.6 and Clause 2.70.10 of the Collective Agreement.
“City of Tshwane Municipal Manager Johann Mettler decided to suspend the employees on full pay pending a review of the ruling in light of the severity of the charges, together with the fact that the trust relationship has broken down irretrievably,” the metro added.
RESIDENTS SUFFER DUE TO RECEIVING POOR QUALITY WATER
In September 2023, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) announced that it will probe allegations of maladministration and corruption related to the R295 million tender to refurbish and upgrade the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Works.
The Rooiwal plant receives wastewater from Atteridgeville, Pretoria’s central business district, Pretoria North, Soshanguve South, and Rosslyn.
However, due to problems with operations and maintenance, the treated effluent from the wastewater treatment works is sub-standard. It continuously discharges into the Apies River and the Leeuwkraal Dam, resulting in poor water quality in Leeuwkraal Dam.
The Temba Water Treatment Works (WTW) abstracts water from the Leeuwkraal Dam for purification and supply to the Hammanskraal area. Consequently, the water produced at the Temba plant is of poor quality and not potable.
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