Five Tshwane officials placed on precautionary suspension following Rooiwal tender contract

This comes after a year-long internal disciplinary process found them guilty on one of the four charges they faced.

 The charges include:

- Allowing Blackhead Consulting to progress to the next stage of the evaluation without being registered with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and without having the required CIDB 9CE or 9ME.

- Consensus-based decision making instead of evaluating independently as members of Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC).

- Conclusion of Blackhead Consulting services to render professional services in the circumstances where the city had already appointed a company to render professional services. Consequently, the city incurred costs of R10 999 786.96

- Evaluating the winning bidder on 1,4m belt presses width when the specification required 2m width.

 City spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the five officials received precautionary suspension letters on Wednesday and were afforded the opportunity to make representations on why they shouldn’t be suspended.

"A final determination was made yesterday (Friday) to place them on precautionary suspension with full pay. The officials were found not guilty on three charges but were found guilty on one charge and the sanction was suspension for one month without pay.

"The City strenuously disagrees with the outcome of the disciplinary process and has resolved to appeal the entire outcome of the disciplinary process at the Labour Court. The City is of the view that, their continued presence at the workplace, will be detrimental to the stability of the municipality."

Bokaba adds that the officials were charged for being grossly negligent and/derelict in the performance of their duties and that their conduct subsequently led to a breach of various legislation, policies, and codes of conduct.

"The officials were not found guilty on the first three charges but were found guilty on the fourth charge and the disciplinary board chairperson recommended a sanction of suspension for one month without pay. The city was disappointed and disagreed with the findings of the chairperson and sought legal opinion on the matter.

"The legal opinion suggested that the five implicated officials ought to have been dismissed on the finding of guilt of charge 4 by the Chairperson, in line with section 14A of the Code of Conduct, and Clause 2.7.6 and/or Clause 2.70.10 of the Collective Agreement."

The City Manager Johann Mettler said a decision was made to suspend the employees on full pay, pending a review of the ruling, considering the nature and severity of the charges, together with the fact that the trust relationship has broken down irretrievably.

"The officials are senior employees of the municipality and majority of them on the BEC are engineers and ought to have applied themselves properly when evaluating the tender regarding the belt pressers", Mettler said.

ALSO READ