The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo will write to the Board of Great North Transport (GNT) and the MEC for Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (LEDET) demanding that the tenders awarded, and the resultant leases entered into for the hiring of buses, be summarily voided. This follows damning findings of irregular procurement by the Auditor-General.
We will also call upon both the provincial and national Treasuries to launch investigations into this matter, given the apparent gross contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). We will further demand that all leases for the 205 buses be withdrawn and that the responsible officials and accounting authorities be held accountable for their failure to safeguard the best interests of government.
In addition, we will request that the Limpopo Legislature’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) launch an urgent investigation, and we will write to the MEC for Transport and Community Safety to recall the routes currently issued to GNT.
The Auditor-General found that the recent tender awards for the leasing of buses were irregular, as the contracts were not concluded through a procurement process that was fair, equitable, transparent, and competitive, as required by Section 51(1)(a)(iii) of the PFMA.
The Auditor-General identified, amongst other irregularities, that:
- Bids were not evaluated in line with the specifications set out in the tender document, resulting in a process that was neither transparent nor consistent with published requirements;
- Some bidders were awarded more buses than those verified by the Bid Evaluation Committee;
- Three of the successful bidders submitted similar documents, all of which were prepared by one of the winning bidders;
- The award was made to a bidder who was not tax compliant at the time of award; and
- Preferential points relating to specific goals were incorrectly allocated.
On this basis, the Auditor-General has classified the awards as irregular expenditure in contravention of the PFMA.
The DA has consistently warned against the malfeasance, corruption, capture, and looting at GNT that led to its collapse. In the recently adopted SCOPA report, GNT is described as a “fiscal black hole.”
We cautioned against bailing out GNT without a full, open, and transparent inquiry into how the Limpopo provincial government and the ANC enabled the plundering and collapse of this public bus company. We warned that unless the root causes of GNT’s collapse were acknowledged and decisively addressed, any attempt to revive it would simply throw more good money after bad – while enabling further reckless and wasteful governance.
The irregular procurement of leased buses confirms our dire warnings. Governance without accountability and consequence management is not governance – it is tantamount to organised corruption.
The bus must be stopped. The malfeasance must be dealt with once and for all.