The DA in Tshwane has welcomed the disciplinary proceedings the City has taken against its five officials who awarded an irregular tender for the upgrade of the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Plant to a consortium linked to Edwin Sodi.
The party said in the last decade that the five suspects oversaw the supply chain management division, the municipality had incurred irregular expenditure of more than R10 billion.
”It is essential that the city completes what has been started on the Rooiwal matter, including cooperation with the SIU and the blacklisting of the consortium that abandoned the project (in addition to being irregularly appointed).
“ANC businessman Edwin Sodi has become synonymous with corruption, as indicated by the findings of the Zondo Commission.
“If, as seen in other contracts involving Edwin Sodi, officials or politicians benefited by unduly influencing the outcome of the adjudication process, they should find themselves behind bars.
“The Zondo Commission made clear the extent of manipulation by the ANC and its cadres of state resources,” DA’s Gauteng spokesperson Kwena Moloto said.
Moloto further alleged that ANC-affiliated networks of politicians, officials and service providers have survived the party’s defeat at the ballot box in the major metros, adding that the networks were slowly being dismantled in Tshwane.
“As was anticipated, the ANC has already come out against the action taken against the Rooiwal Five. In a statement released yesterday, the party’s regional secretary, George Matjila, claimed that the municipal council has to be consulted before the city manager takes disciplinary action. This is not true.
“For too long the ANC has conflated party and state. When the Glad Africa matter was brought to the municipal council for investigation in 2019, the ANC blocked the suspension of the then city manager pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation.”
He continued to say that coalition partners should take decisions that would restore confidence in the city council and residents.
“Public funds should go towards delivering services to the residents of Tshwane and not towards shady ANC-aligned businessmen like Edwin Sodi,” Moloto added.
Five days ago, the municipality suspended the five employees following the conclusion of an internal disciplinary process which found them guilty on one of the four charges they faced.
They were charged for being grossly negligent and/derelict in the performance of their duties and that their conduct subsequently led to a breach of various aspects of legislation, policies and codes of conduct, according to the municipality.
The metro’s spokesperson, Selby Bokaba, said a final determination was made last week Friday to place the officials on precautionary suspension with full pay.
“The City is of the view that their continued presence at the workplace will be detrimental to the stability of the municipality,” Bokaba concluded.
The Star