DA Gauteng Debates Open Tender Motion

Speech by: Adriana Randall

“More room for transparency in Gauteng’s Open Tender system”

  • Key to an open tender process is to constantly document its impact on transparency, accountability and citizen engagement.
  • The successful open tender process needs to ensure that public procurement processes are  available at all times by ensuring that technology is used effectively and that online bidding and computerised supply chain management are accessible and streamlined.
  • On 15 September 2016 the DA mayor in the City of Tshwane Metro announced the opening up of the tender process in the metro after discovering that the previous ANC government awarded multi-million rand contracts illegally to friends and family by ignoring the legal procurement processes in place.
  • It is a pity that Premier Makhura in his speech earlier told delegates that certain municipalities in the province already reneged on their election promises to open up their tender processes. I would appreciate if he could indicate who these municipalities are, as their decisions not to open up their tender processes will only drag down province’s efforts to ensure a responsible and transparent government.

The full speech can be obtained here.

 

Speech by : Ashor Sarupen

“ANC should learn from DA’s tender system”

  • The claim that Gauteng is the first to have implemented the open tender system is neither factual nor a victory. The City of Cape Town opened its bid adjudication committee to public and media scrutiny for all tenders on the first of July 2006.
  • Open tenders are not just about opening the bid adjudication committee to public scrutiny, but it should be about access to information and maximising the number of bids received. It cannot be right that the same firms get government tenders over and over.
  • The ANC in Gauteng has admitted to having paid R30 for a loaf of bread, and ANC municipalities have admitted to being charged R30 for a tungsten lightbulbs. This is because there is a massive racket of corruption happening at the request for quotation system under R30 000, where only those who have access to information put in quotes as the entire process is shrouded in secrecy.
  • I challenge the Premier and MEC Creecy to publicly challenge the Minister of Public Enterprises to make every State-owned enterprise adopt the open tender system

The full speech can be obtained here.

 

Media Enquiries:

Adriana Randall MPL

DA Gauteng Shadow MEC on Finance

060 556 4342

 

Ashor Sarupen

DA Gauteng Spokesperson on Finance

060 558 8303

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