Five senior City of Tshwane managers linked to the irregular awarding of the Rooiwal tender to Edwin Sodi’s companies are set to face fresh charges two years after their initial disciplinary hearing was concluded.
This comes after the labour court found the process that led to them being found guilty on only one charge to be flawed and ordered its restart.
The officials made up the bid evaluation committee, which allowed Sodi’s companies — NJR Projects and Blackhead Consulting — to bid for and win a R292m tender in a joint venture without meeting basic requirements.
Tshwane has been pushing for their dismissal since a forensic report found they ignored red flags, which would have eliminated Sodi’s companies from the bidding process.
The failed upgrade of the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant has been blamed for the deaths of more than 20 people in Hammanskraal during a cholera outbreak in 2023.
A forensic report by Ligwa Advisory Services stated that the expansion of Rooiwal’s capacity would have improved the quality of drinking water in Hammanskraal.
Tshwane has been pushing to get the five managers dismissed since the outcome of its investigation into the awarding of the tender.
The city‘s spokesperson, Lindela Mashigo, said on Monday that the process of a new disciplinary hearing was under way, with the city finalising charges to ensure a fair and procedurally sound hearing.
“The labour court judgment affirms the seriousness of the charges and supports the city’s view that the initial outcome was not appropriate, enabling the matter to be properly addressed through due process,” he said.
Mashigo said an investigation into the matter by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) was also completed.
“The findings remain confidential at this stage to protect the integrity of ongoing processes.”
[...] the lack of remorse raises questions about whether the employees can be rehabilitated
— N Ncame, acting judge
The implicated officials are Thembeka Mphefu, divisional head of supply chain management; Frans Manganye, divisional head of electricity planning and development; Stephens Notoane, group head of utility services; Justice Sekokotla, director of the electricity department; and Dumisani Gubuza, divisional head of water and sanitation.
They were subjected to a disciplinary hearing chaired by attorney Levy Nakedi, who found them guilty on only one charge and ordered them to be suspended for one month without pay.
The city took the outcome of the hearing to appeal.
In November last year, the labour court found that Nakedi relied on irrelevant considerations and overlooked important facts.
The city had argued that Nakedi acted “unreasonably and irrationally” in finding the group not guilty on most charges.
It said Nakedi was also wrong to claim that the bid evaluation committee members were not trained in evaluation when one of them had nine years of training.
The city said Nakedi was lenient in not finding the employees guilty of giving Sodi’s company the same score during the evaluation, and that he overlooked that Sodi’s companies did not have any grading by the Construction Industry Development Board to be in a joint venture with CMS Projects.
Acting judge N Ncame said Nakedi had looked at the wrong things.
The sixth respondent [Nakedi] focused on the clarity of the criteria, but this was meant to show how unlikely it was for all members to give the same score, given the subjective elements, Ncame said.
She said this was not fully tested and the charge must be reheard by a new, objective chairperson.
She added that irrelevant points were relied on while key facts were ignored.
“The contradicting testimony and submissions on the training do require clarification because how does one place trust on an ill-equipped employee? If the bid evaluation committee members were trained or if the opportunity for training was made available to them, then this calls for a dismissal,” she said.
This failure broke the trust relationship, and the lack of remorse raises questions about whether the employees can be rehabilitated, the judgment said.
A City of Tshwane source added that a fresh disciplinary hearing would allow them to use new evidence from the SIU against the implicated officials.
“Starting from scratch gives Tshwane an opportunity to consider bringing further charges against the [officials] based on the outcome of the SIU.”
The SIU report also identified seven other officials who must also face the music.
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Cilliers Brink, the former Tshwane mayor and DA leader in the metro, said he believed a case can be made that the employment relationship with the officials has broken down irretrievably.
“The head of SCM [supply chain management], for one, has presided over billions of rand of irregular expenditure,” said Brink.
“The city must consider all legal options to have these positions vacated and filled.”
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