- One of PRASA’s most important capital contracts – to upgrade its depots to accommodate its new blue trains – has been delayed by irregularities.
- Dozens of recent blue trains have been left to stand idle.
- A settlement settlement between a failed tenderer and the contract award winner could also be in opposition to procurement guidelines.
New blue trains, which promised a renewal in commuter rail for the nation, maintain popping out of the Gibela manufacturing unit in Dunnottar, however the depots of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) are usually not prepared to obtain them.
The tenders for upgrading engineering companies have run into obstacles, and a subsequent settlement settlement could also be in opposition to the regulation.
On 26 August 2021, Acting Judge Stuart Wilson, within the Johannesburg High Court, issued an interim interdict in opposition to PRASA, stopping it from implementing an over-priced tender for engineering consulting on upgrades to the Salt River and Springfield depots.
The tenders for these depots had been received by the GladAfrica Group, which additionally trades as GladAfrica Consulting Engineering. The sole director of GladAfrica is Noel Mashaba, who’s the younger brother of Auswell Mashaba, of the Swifambo too-tall trains fiasco.
But GIBB, a shedding bidder, cried foul. Not solely was GIBB’s bid nearly R350-million lower than GladAfrica’s, however GIBB had been disqualified for trivial reasons – references within the mistaken place and a thinly-supported declare that their designs had been too generic.
GladAfrica’s bid was additionally faulty. Most notably, that they had boasted of an settlement with Deutsche Bahn engineers. But by the point of the award, Deutsche Bahn was not concerned.
Soon after the interdict, on 8 September 2021, PRASA’s then-CEO Zolani Kgosie Matthews advised Parliament that the method that PRASA adopted in awarding the bid to GladAfrica was the truth is compliant with the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act, and that PRASA was to take the court docket determination on overview.
This dedication to overview the interdict was deserted, as a result of GladAfrica didn’t take up the combat, and determined as a substitute to enter right into a settlement settlement with GIBB.
GroundUp has seen two settlement agreements, for the upgrading of Salt River and Springfield depots.
In phrases of the Springfield depot tender, GladAfrica would cede “its right, title and interest in and to the Contract” and “all warranties and representations given to PRASA by GladAfrica in terms of the Contract shall be deemed to have been given by GIBB”. In trade, GIBB would withdraw its overview utility.
GladAfrica could be paid for the work that it had already achieved, and PRASA could be answerable for all of the authorized prices. The settlement binds the events to strict confidentiality clauses, together with that “GIBB shall not publish any articles or provide any comment to any member of the media or any other third party whatsoever regarding GladAfrica’s performance in terms of the Contract”.
This would possibly clarify why GroundUp has not even acquired a recognition of receipt from PRASA, GIBB or GladAfrica in response to our questions.
Unlawful cession settlement?
A cession settlement transfers a declare for cash from one occasion to one other. Such an settlement can also be the topic of controversy.
A 25 March 2022 letter from David Mphelo, then-Acting CEO of PRASA, to GladAfrica, says that “PRASA hereby grants you conditional consent that one of the projects be ceded … Kindly provide PRASA with a Final Cession Agreement, to which PRASA will then grant its final consent.”
A month later, GIBB sent an anxious letter to PRASA, demanding that they signal the ultimate settlement settlement. GroundUp has not been in a position to affirm what has adopted this letter of demand.
But it’s not clear that cession agreements are even permissible.
An August 2020 legal opinion for the Office of the State Attorney, written by advocates RPA Ramawele and KF Magano, relating to the legality of cession agreements, discovered that, the place organs of state or state-owned firms are involved, cession agreements between profitable tenderers and third events shouldn’t be permitted. If an organization can not fulfil its obligations, then “provisions of the breach of contract” ought to be invoked, as a substitute of allowing cession agreements.
Depot issues
In current years, PRASA has been seized by inner chaos, and it has uncared for to attend to important infrastructure upgrades.
The new blue trains – the EMUs (electrical modular items) – require specialised storage and upkeep infrastructure. At current, most depots are at their capability for brand spanking new trains. With extra trains coming off the manufacturing unit ground, the depot upgrades are pressing.
According to the Auditor General’s (AGSA) management report from September 2022, “PRASA’s stations and depots are clearly not prepared and do not have the required capacity to receive and operate all these new trains.”
PRASA ought to have constructed extra house to home 186 EMUs, however constructed none, the AG discovered.
Congestion on the Wolmerton depot in Pretoria has already led to an accident that broken one of many EMUs.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the depot solely has house for ten new trains and has already acquired 9.
According to the AG, 47 trains are in “dynamic storage” at Wolmerton, ready for PRASA depots to catch up.
GroundUp repeatedly requested remark and solutions to questions relating to the cession settlement from PRASA, GIBB, GladAfrica, and Deutsche Bahn. None have responded.
© 2023 GroundUp. This article was first revealed here.