The Matjhabeng Local Municipality’s persistent failure in its procurement processes is a growing concern that continues to hamper essential service delivery across the municipality.
During the night of 17 August a severe thunderstorm blew fuses in the electrical substation that feeds the Welkom CBD. This outage lasted more than 24 hours, crippling the Welkom CBD and Doorn. Procurement and proper procedures were the problem.
Maxie Badenhorst, DA councillor, says the crisis of prolonged power outages in Hennenman and Ventersburg during June of this year, left residents without electricity for up to seven days. “This was exacerbated by the municipality’s inability to procure the necessary materials promptly,” she says.
The council’s response to questions raised by Badenhorst in this regard have revealed that the core issue lies in the municipality’s stores.
The stores are meant to house critical materials for emergencies, but are still not operational. This has resulted in severe delays as materials must be sourced externally – a process that is neither efficient nor reliable.
“Despite our persistent inquiries, the responses from the municipality remain vague and contradictory.”
She says an example of this is when she asked why the Supply Chain and Electrical departments provided conflicting information regarding the availability of materials. The response was evasive, simply stating that “the two departments are working together to improve communication.”
Badenhorst says this lack of clarity and accountability is unacceptable, especially when it directly impacts the well-being of residents.
In a particularly concerning development, the municipality has suggested that a councillor should request information regarding procurement processes through a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application.
“This bureaucratic hurdle is not only unnecessary but also indicative of a disturbing lack of transparency within the municipality. Elected officials should not be forced to navigate such red tape to obtain information critical to service delivery,” says Badenhorst.
She says the stores must be made fully operational as a matter of urgency to ensure that critical materials are readily available for emergencies and routine maintenance tasks. In addition, procurement processes must be streamlined to avoid delays and ensure that essential materials are sourced promptly.
“Immediate steps must be taken to resolve the persistent lack of materials for repairing burst water pipes, replacing water meters and taps, and performing other essential maintenance tasks,” she says.
