Joburg throwing millions at billing crisis

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Cope said it was disappointed by the high pay for the new city manager, which is up by R1.4m from the previous municipal managers pay.

The City of Joburg has spent another R13.1 million on trying to get the City of Joburg’s billing system right. This, despite already having spent R800m in the past few years trying to get the systems right, but failing dismally.

And to add further insult to injury, the council approved this spending, even though it was done without following proper procedures in terms of Municipal Supply Chain Management Regulations.

The council on Thursday approved R135m worth of contracts without going through proper tender procedures. This happened in the space of 30 days between February and March. A total of 19 deviations were approved and 10 contracts ratified, all of which were not approved in terms of council regulations.

The R13.1m was supposed to have been spent on improving the billing problems within four months of March 31, yet there is very little evidence that it has had any impact.

Although details provided in the report submitted to the council asking for approval of contracts are sketchy, it was stated that the money was needed because of “billing challenges” in the Revenue and Customer Relations Management unit.

The report says that the company, EOH, was “at that stage” involved with the billing systems, enhancements, configurations and billing developments to address system challenges post-Phakama implementation. It had the “necessary system business knowledge and all the necessary background to assist the city with the billing challenges,” said the report and the deviation from tender procedures was required to “ensure continuity and completion of work in progress.”

The approvals for deviations from tender procedures were asked for after the auditor general, in issuing his qualified report for the year 2010/11, issued a warning to the council that such deviations from procurement processes were not in accordance with legal regulations.

Other examples include property leases not extended before expiry date, extension of contracts prior to the commencement of new ones, the non-inclusion of escalation clauses in contact negotiation and decisions made by employees without consultation.

The contracts include one for R3.7m for the establishment of new offices for the housing department in Braamfontein, R7m for a maintenance contract for digital high-speed copiers, R1.3m for extending a lease which expired for the Region F municipal offices, R35m for the extension of a contact for city fleet cars, R500 000 for the scrapping of taxis for the Rea Vaya and R2m for the appoint ment of legal representation for Rea Vaya former taxi drivers who wanted their own team, and not the one appointed by the city. According to the Municipal Supply Chain Management Regulations, the council can bypass tender procedures under certain cir cumstance which include emergency circumstances or in exceptional cases where it is “impossible or impractical to follow official procurement processes.”

The City of Joburg’s member of the mayoral committee responsible for finance, Geoff Makhubu, said the situation was not accept able.

Makhubu, while not providing details, said they were “implementing systems” to address this.

DA Joburg leader Mmusi Maimane said this was “deplorable”, especially in the light of the city’s recent qualified report.

“The criterion for deviations is weak and open to interpretation. It is open to abuse and can lead to corruption,” he said.

Maimane said proper planning was needed, especially in the cases where leases were about to expire, to avoid relying on emer gency clauses to extend them.

Councillor Alan Fuchs said that no disciplinary action had been taken against any official involved in these deviations, except in two cases where letters of reprimand had been written to the heads of departments concerned.

“Now that Makhubu himself has expressed concern over the matter, he should call for investigations to establish who has acted unlawfully and to lay charges against those involved,” he said.