City's procurement processes under scrutiny

THE GOOD Party has challenged the City as it defends its procedures pertaining to a multimillion-rand contract for video display screens at Cape Town Stadium, calling for transparency to ensure public confidence.

- MURRAY SWART

A public dispute over the awarding of the multimillion-rand contract has shifted the spotlight onto transparency in municipal tender processes.

The City said it rejected the allegations of fraud and corruption made by what they called an unhappy unsuccessful bidder.

"The unsuccessful bidder had also been advised to challenge the decision in court for further public and transparent scrutiny as the City followed all due process," the City said.

The debate follows social media posts by Frank MacBeath raising concerns about the disqualification of a lower-priced bidder and the subsequent awarding of a higher-priced contract. The posts reference Sport and Traffic Technologies (Pty) Ltd (SATT), which submitted an unsuccessful bid and maintains it had offered a compliant proposal of about R27 million. According to MacBeath's posts, the awarded contract was valued at approximately R46m.