Pretoria - Tshwane mayor Randall Williams appears to be off the hook, for now, after he was cleared of wrongdoing following a probe into allegations that he meddled into the municipal procurement processes involving a R26 billion unsolicited bid proposal.
However, the investigation also concluded that Williams has a case to answer for having instructed senior officials to endorse a bid proposal by an Australian company called Kratos Consortium for generating power for the metro.
The multiparty coalition partners, who include ActionSA, DA, Freedom Front-Plus, ACDP, Cope and the Inkatha Freedom Party, instituted an investigation into Williams’ conduct after he was caught in an audio recording instructing officials to endorse the proposed bid.
According to Williams, the proposal was meant to generate 800 megawatts of power over a long term at an estimated direct investment of R26 billion by refurbishing two municipal power stations in Rooiwal and Pretoria West.
Williams was accused of interfering in the city’s procurement process and some political parties such as the ANC and EFF called for his head.
ActionSA, on the other hand, lodged a complaint with the Office of the Public Protector, saying Williams compelled officials to implement his “executive decision”.
In the recording, which surfaced in August, Williams could be heard telling senior managers that the city's executive authority makes “executive decisions” and that the administration was duty-bound to implement them whether they “agree or disagree” with them.
Parties held a view that the contract should go on a competitive bidding.
On Saturday, coalition partners met to deliberate on the investigation report, which found that “the proposal did not constitute procurement and therefore no alleged breaches of the MFMA were concluded to have taken place”.
Regarding allegation of Williams’ interference, the coalition said: “The report did conclude that a case exists to be answered for in terms of mayor Williams’ instructions to municipal officials being potentially outside of the scope of his authority; in violation of the code of conduct of councillors; and, in breach the council-approved system of delegations.”
Both the DA and ActionSA, according to a coalition partners’ statement, held “divergent views on these findings but have committed that the matter should follow the correct council-approved processes and where all parties will have the opportunity to state their respective cases”.
According to the Coalition Oversight Group (COG), the matter should be addressed through investigation conducted by the Speaker of Council Dr Muruwa Makwarela.
“The DA confirmed that mayor Williams would refer himself to the Speaker, and ActionSA has committed to lodge its complaint with the Speaker simultaneously,” said COG.
A joint statement by coalition partners further said “the consideration of alleged breaches of the coalition agreement was referred for further investigation within the coalition structure with a view of improving future co-operation around matters that lack consensus within the coalition”.
“In the intervening period, all parties have committed to ensure an absolute focus of the multi-party coalition to deliver services to all communities in the City of Tshwane. This will remain at the forefront of our agenda while we continue to address this issue through the processes prescribed in the City of Tshwane Council,” they said.
The EFF said it wanted the SAPS to investigate a possibility that Williams received a bribe from a company implicated in a multibillion rand unsolicited bid proposal to refurbish the two municipal power stations.
Williams has maintained his innocence, saying the purpose of the recorded meeting was to workshop and brainstorm an investment proposal to repurpose the City's coal-powered plants which have not been in use since 2014 and convert them to use gas.
Pretoria News