The Mayibuye Civic Movement has called for the suspension of Nelson Mandela Bay’s legal services boss, Nobuntu Mpongwana, following a 2024 auditor-general report that flagged irregularities in the appointment and use of the city’s legal panel.
In a letter addressed to Bay acting mayor Gary van Niekerk on Wednesday, the movement’s founder, Tukela Zumani, said that under Mpongwana’s leadership, the department had mismanaged millions in taxpayers’ funds.
He said such conduct could not continue unchecked.
During the 2022/2023 financial year, the metro reportedly spent R70m on legal bills, with R57m of that going to three law firms.
“This trend not only overlooks the calls for austerity measures made by the National Treasury and the public in general, but does so without offering clarity on the benefits accrued to the residents of Nelson Mandela Bay from these substantial outlays.
“Compounding these concerns, my desktop investigation indicated that the lion’s share of legal service contracts was, and I assume still is, recurrently awarded to a select few firms.”
Zumani said that out of 18 firms on the panel, 82.6% of legal services work went to the same three firms.
A 2023/2024 auditor-general report cited several alleged irregularities with the appointment of the 18-member legal panel appointed by the metro.
The R173.5m three-year tender received 61 bids, with 18 securing contracts.
“The largest beneficiaries of this arrangement were appointed despite not meeting the administrative, minimum qualifying and functionality requirements,” Zumani said.
“Furthermore, another finding validating my concerns was that there were no predefined criteria for how work would be allocated to service providers on the panel.
“This lack of criteria resulted in an unfair distribution of work.”
In his report, AG Eastern Cape business unit senior manager Thembela Mseleni said there were discrepancies between the bidders recommended by the bid evaluation committee and those endorsed by the bid adjudication committee.
Findings highlighted included possible collusive tender practices; evaluation criteria amended post-evaluation and no evidence provided to confirm that the winning bidder’s municipal account was not in arrears for more than three months.
On Wednesday, Van Niekerk said he had forwarded Zumani’s letter to acting municipal manager Ted Pillay.
“I instructed them that we need to act on this as it’s not something we can turn a blind eye to.
“If you look at the allegations, they are quite serious and backed up by facts, quoting the AG as well which is concerning to me.”
The Herald
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