Africa-Press – South-Africa. The IFP-led Umzinyathi district municipality has defended spending R6.4m on a generator.
The water-strapped KwaZulu-Natal municipality received backlash after an invoice for the machine was shared on social media.The purchase, the invoice for which was sent to the municipality’s operations and maintenance manager, was approved in July.
Municipality spokesperson Nkanyiso Cebekhulu said it was aware the invoice had been posted on social media, but lashed out, saying critics sought to “mislead the public” without knowing the facts.
Cebekhulu said load-shedding and operational requirements for the Nquthu Vantsdrift Water Treatment Works made the acquisition of a generator urgent for pumping water.
This is Nquthu town’s main water purification plant, with Cebekhulu said the municipality had in the past rented generators, but this was costly.
Buying or renting a generator were the available options, he said.
“An award was given to a service provider for the value of R800,000 per month (R9.6m a year) for the rental generator. The service provider failed to source the specified generator and the purchase order was therefore cancelled. The said reason was the price hike in the market, which made delivery impossible.
Cebekhulu said the municipality then bought a generator from Asiziqalele Contractors for R6.4m, including VAT.
“This is evident in the document that was circulated on social media, which was leaked by those intending to cause harm to the municipality.”
Cebekhulu said the price was “reasonable” and it was preferable for the municipality to own a generator rather than renting one, due to the price difference.
He said the basis for the decision was that the generator was new and installation and delivery costs would be incurred each time a new service provider was appointed to provide a rental machine.“This decision was meant to reduce the rental costs of over R9m per year as the quoted prices were all over R750,000 for the rental option,” he said, adding that it ensured energy stability for the plant.
Elaborating, Cebekhulu said the generator’s specifications were as follows: 1,000 KVA Prime Power 400V Baudouin Generator, Sound Attenuated, Waterproof ISD Container, Integrated Manual start, 1000l Diesel Tank.
However, a basic internet search for the machine on different websites showed it cost between R2m and R3m.
This led to calls for an investigation into why the municipality paid an extra R3m to R4m for the machine.
University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) political analyst Dr Lubna Nadvi said incidents such as this were concerning.
Nadvi said when questions about municipal expenditure are raised by opposition political parties or citizens, it is appropriate that provision is made for investigations.
“At the end of the day, it is taxpayers’ money. There should be an investigation if there is suspected corruption. All parties or public officials are accountable to the public and if there are concerns, then this should be investigated further,” said Nadvi.
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