Hundreds of troops attached to the army support base in Polokwane have reportedly gone without food rations the past month due to alleged procurement problems pointing at Pretoria.
According to a source 400 soldiers attached to the warrant officer’s mess at the base in Polokwane had not received rations for four weeks now, with the situation temporarily being relieved by the delivery of eggs on Monday. On Tuesday he said the only rations they still had left was coffee.
The source informed Polokwane Observer that the problem had been attributed to a hiccup in procurement processes. The securing of rations had been done by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) procurement division in Pretoria for approximately a year now, it was learnt.
SANDF spokesperson Mafi Mgobozi confirmed some hiccups with only certain rations, due to a problem with suppliers that had been solved on Friday. According to him the soldiers were now being provided with the food. He claimed that their e-procure programme sometimes posed problems due to service providers having trouble with deliveries. Mgobozi said it was only Polokwane presently experiencing problems.
He pointed out that when such things happened they would avoid using the same suppliers in future and if found that they couldn’t deliver on time they got blacklisted.
Mgobozi, who didn’t have information on the procurement of rations for Polokwane having been moved to Pretoria, concluded saying it was beyond their powers and if their procurement processes were solved things would go better.
Story: YOLANDE NEL
>>observer.yolande@gmail.com
