The Auditor-General declared the awarding of the tender irregular.

In statement on Friday, Msimanga blamed City manager Dr Moeketsi Mosola, saying vital information relating to the contract had not been passed on to the mayoral committee.

Msimanga said it was found that the City procured beyond its scope and thus far spent R317m in irregular money on the contract.

“First, the exclusive appointment of GladAfrica in place of what was meant to be a panel of service providers, and the price tag of the award, was never properly reported either to the mayoral committee or council by the City manager.”

He added that legal advice warned Mosola that awarding the contract would be irregular.

“He ignored the opinion, [and it] was never disclosed to the mayoral committee or the municipal council by the City manager as part of his formal supply chain management reporting duties.”

Msimanga continued: “We have done and continue to do our duty in holding a deeply compromised City manager to account.”

He also called Mosola the “mastermind behind the awarding of the contract”.

“He stated categorically that all was above board with the contract. This was after I had put pertinent questions to him about the details of the GladAfrica award,” he added.

Msimanga announced last week that he would step down at the end of the month to focus on his campaign to be the premier of the province.

Meanwhile, the ANC in Gauteng says the Auditor-General’s finding reflects badly on both the DA and EFF.

“The findings by the Auditor-General into the irregular expenditure in the City of Tshwane under the DA-EFF coalition in excess of R1.5bn, confirms beyond any doubt that under the coalition, government corruption has become institutionalised in the municipality,” ANC Gauteng provincial executive committee spokesperson Tasneem Motara said in a statement.

Motara said the ANC in Tshwane had raised concerns about the awarding of the tender as far back as August 2018 already.

“The money for the construction of roads, water and electricity infrastructure, the building of community infrastructure and other key service delivery-related infrastructure is catered for from this budget.”

“This has seen service delivery collapsing in the City of Tshwane with the municipality earning the title of being the worst-performing metropolitan municipality, according to the Quality of Life Survey (QoLS) 2017/18,” Motara said.

The party questioned why the DA did not hold Msimanga accountable.

“As the ANC, we have to ask that if such theft could take place in just one financial year, and service delivery could grind to a halt in the city under Msimanga’s questionable leadership, we only wonder what would happen should he be given the reigns to lead a province such as Gauteng,” Motara said. DM