Ald Cilliers Brink DA Tshwane Caucus Leader photo by Dimakatso Modipa
By Ald Cilliers Brink
DA Tshwane Mayoral Candidate
Under Tshwane’s ANC-led coalition, the application to have Blackhead Consulting, Edwin Sodi and his associates prohibited from doing business with government has stalled.
This became apparent last week when Tshwane’s mayor and the city manager appeared before Parliament’s portfolio committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA).
Asked by MPs about the progress of the blacklisting application, city manager Johann Mettler said the application is yet to be lodged with National Treasury.
Inexplicably, the City’s internal audit department first has to vet the application.
The DA and our coalition partners initiated a blacklisting application in 2024 on the strength of findings by the Auditor-General and the City’s own forensic investigation about the rigged tender for first phase of the upgrade of the Rooiwal Waste Water Treatment Plant.
It is clear that Sodi and his associates lacked the construction industry grading to complete the work.
They later abandoned the site before completing the work, prolonging the water crisis effecting Hammanskraal.
The decision whether or not to blacklist a service provider of the state from doing business with the state is made by National Treasury.
But an application to this end has to be launched by the organ of state affected by the malperformance and misconduct of a service provider, which is what Tshwane did.
As Mettler explained to the portfolio committee, there are no clear process stipulated by law on how a service provider is to be blacklisted.
Such an application is guided by the rules of natural justice, and guidelines provided by National Treasury.
On this basis National Treasury prompted Tshwane to recommence the blacklisting process against Sodi and his associates, which the city did immediately.
The blacklisting process was not finalised before ActionSA switched its support to a coalition led by the ANC, and one of the fears which I expressed at the time was that the Sodi blacklisting application will be quashed.
And so, I have enquired with Mettler and National Treasury about the progress of the blacklisting application on several occasions in the past year.
But, a year and a half after Tshwane first commenced the blacklisting process, it simply doesn’t make sense that a blacklisting application hasn’t been lodged yet with National Treasury.
We fear that the delay is prejudicing the application.
It also doesn’t make sense why the process is being further delayed by having the City’s internal audit department vet the application.
The department has serious capacity constrains.
It would make far more sense for the City to simply obtain a senior counsel’s opinion.
As she prepares to host an investor summit this week, the DA calls on Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya to give a public commitment on when the Sodi blacklisting application will be lodged.