BCM bosses suing council over damning R21m tender report

Six officials were identified by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) for their alleged involvement in gross financial misconduct relating to the provision of more than 330 temporary houses during the Covid-19 pandemic, at a cost of R21m. The SIU report, compiled in 2022, was later sent to the metro’s financial misconduct disciplinary board for it to determine the appropriate action to be taken against the implicated officials. A confidential report from the board recommending that disciplinary proceedings be instituted against the officials was tabled at a special council meeting in January.

The disciplinary board, chaired by Louis Vermaak, found that there was prima facie evidence that warranted the group being taken to task for alleged misconduct. The officials include the metro’s human settlements head of department, Luyanda Mbula, supply chain management boss and former acting CFO Andile Xoseka and senior project manager Sandile Gqiba. In his board report, Vermaak recommended that action be taken against Mbula for, among other things, allegedly unlawfully authorising invoices for payment to two service providers while the work for which payment was made, was not done.

The report, seen by the Dispatch, also recommended that Xoseka be disciplined for allegedly selectively providing nine of the 23 service providers who had put in bids with the specifications for structures to be tendered on before the request for quotation was issued. Vermaak’s board also wants Xoseka to account for his alleged appointment of a junior staff member to the bid adjudication committee, “over which he had control and could have manipulated, while he was not authorised to do so”. The report states that Gqiba should be disciplined for allegedly unlawfully authorising payment for housing units which were not completed or constructed at all. After scrutinising the SIU report, Vermaak said in his report: “The disciplinary board is of the opinion that sufficient evidence exists to make out prima facie cases of misconduct against these employees.”