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Vusumuzi Dube, Municipal Reporter
BULAWAYO city councillors have written to the Government challenging a recent proclamation that they were interfering in council procurement matters, it has been learnt.
The councillors have in the past couple of months been at loggerheads with council officials over the handling of key council resolutions resulting in Permanent Secretary, Mr George Magosvongwe writing to council raising concerns over the handling of procurement processes.
The councillors have however, hit back in a letter addressed to the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Cde July Moyo claiming that the matters that were at the core of the impasse between them and council officials were not procurement matters as council was not going to incur any costs but as councillors they merely acted in accordance with established procedure to respond to investments applications.
“We also want to make it clear from the start that the two issues cited are not procurement issues according to the Public Procurement and disposal of public assets Act (Chapter 22:23). Procurement means the acquisition by any means of goods, construction of works or services. With this interpretation it is clear that both these items are not procurement issues because there is no acquisition of goods and services involved.
“In light of the above, we are concerned that it is being alleged that we are interfering in procurement processes in violation of the various legislation that caters for how the BCC should conduct its procurement. We are further concerned that you seem to have accepted the notion that we have vested interests in the procurement processes other than our interest as duly elected councillors,” reads part of the letter.
The councillors further argued that it was inaccurate to claim that councillors were not totally divorced from the procurement process arguing that from the onset they initiate the process through the identification of projects.
“It must be made clear that the process of procurement itself is initiated by the council. It is the council, in its wisdom, that decides the projects that the city must embark on and the priority to be given to the projects.
“To say that the councillors are completely divorced from the procurement process is deliberate ignorance of the law. Once the process is initiated it must follow the letter of the law which prohibits undue interference, not only by councillors in their individual capacities but also by line managers. Should it be necessary, we can make ourselves available to clarify any issues arising,” reads the letter.
In the letter to the local authority Mr Magosvongwe expressed concern over the friction between the councillors and town clerk, Mr Christopher Dube saying it was the town clerk’s duty to inform councillors on the provisions of the new Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act.
“I am concerned about what appears to be vested interests on the part of councillors in the procurement processes of council.
I wish to remind Bulawayo city that the new Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act directs a procuring authority to establish Procurement Management Unit which is approved by the Procurement Regulatory Authority.
“Any attempt by any person — official and councillor — to influence the PMU is ultra vires and will not be tolerated under the new order. Councillors have no part to play in the procurement process. I expect you to inform the council of the new Act and its contents and caution them against any further interference in procurement processes,” reads part of the letter from the Permanent Secretary.
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Bongani Ndlovu