Nelson Mandela Bay metro political head for budget and treasury Khanya Ngqisha. (Photo: Supplied / Nelson Mandela Bay metro). The Nelson Mandela Bay metro suffered another one-day fuel outage last week after an emergency extension of its fuel contract lapsed.
In one case, the fuel outage led to security services admitting that they could not guard electrical cables that had to be left exposed due to ongoing work, as their vehicles had no fuel. Ward Councillor Gustav Rautenbach had to ask the police and the neighbourhood watch to patrol as there had been an incident of cable theft in the area earlier.
Mayoral Committee Member for Budget and Treasury Khanya Ngqisha said last week that relevant officials were warned to renew the metro’s fuel contract while it still had six months remaining before expiry, but no action had been taken.
Ngqisha said the warnings were issued through the Supply Chain Management (SCM) Office.
“Unfortunately, those reminders were not acted upon. The matter was also presented and discussed at a Standing Committee meeting.
But he said measures were now in place to prevent further outages.
“The 36-month fuel contract has expired, and it is unfortunate that the contract was allowed to lapse without a replacement contract being in place. The contract reached its end date without the Department of Infrastructure and Engineering initiating the necessary procurement process for a replacement service provider,” Ngqisha said.
“In an effort to ensure continuity of service while a long-term solution was being pursued, the municipality initially approved a 14-day extension. That extension has since lapsed, and a further three-month extension has now been granted. It is anticipated that the procurement process for a new three-year fuel contract will be concluded within this period,” he said.
Weather emergency fuel lapse
On 30 April, the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality ran out of fuel after its supply contract expired, leaving the metro without fuel during a severe weather emergency and while it still did not have a city manager in place.
Documented warnings reveal that the project manager for the metro’s fuel contract was alerted on 30 October and again on 31 December to renew the agreement. Yet, no action was taken until 11 March, and the renewal application was submitted only on 1 April — a mere 30 days before the contract expired.
This left the metro out of time, given the legal requirement that tender invitations must be advertised for at least 30 days.
The “rehabilitation of supply chain management” in the metro is one of the demands made ahead of a protest on Thursday at City Hall by the metro’s church leadership, the South African NGO Coalition, Cosatu, the South African Federation of Trade Unions, the Uitenhage Leaders and the metro’s Women Leaders.
Among other matters, protestors will present a memorandum to the City leadership calling for the appointment of a competent city manager, the filling of critical senior positions, the safety of communities and the rehabilitation of electricity, water and sanitation infrastructure. DM