City awards another multi-million rand contract to Mpisane
DA caucus leader Zwakele Mncwango has called for an investigation into businesswoman Shauwn Mpisane dealings with eThekwini Municipality.
Well-known businesswoman and ANC funder Shauwn Mpisane has been given a R255 million housing contract by the eThekwini Municipality.
This was revealed by DA eThekwini caucus leader, Zwakele Mncwango who said the contract, which was discussed at a finance and procurement sitting today, was awarded this past February for the construction of low-cost housing units in uMlazi. He said normal tender procedures were by-passed under the guise that it was an emergency necessitated by the need for service delivery.
“Every municipality’s core mandate is centred around service delivery and it’s possible to deliver without the habitual by-passing of usual tender processes. However, it has become the norm in eThekwini to by-pass normal tender procedures whenever a Mpisane company is involved. This is completely unacceptable, especially when various media reports over the years have highlighted the poor state of many of the units built by Mpisane.”
Mncwango pointed out that in the previous financial year alone, Mpisane received nearly half-a-billion-rand worth of tenders from the city. ” A media report today highlighted that Mpisane is one the five company owners who, between them, have received more than R2 billion in tenders from eThekwini over the past two years. Some of the major pay-outs the city has meted out to Mpisane include a R288 million unauthorized out-of-court settlement that arose following a housing tender dispute, another low-cost housing tender in uMlazi for R200 million and a R318 million contract for the uMlazi Infill Project; amongst others,” he said.
“It makes absolutely no sense as to how it is that Mpisane is constantly awarded multi-million rand projects by the city without competing fairly with other business people,” he said.
“I have written to the office of the Public Protector calling on an investigation into Mpisane and her business dealings with the city and I will continue to feed them as much information as possible until they finalise this matter.”
