By REGINALD KANYANE
3 July 2025- The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Phokwane Local Municipality said it will table a motion, calling for the urgent review of the procurement of goods on an emergency basis, after increasing abuse of the system to bypass Supply Chain Management (SCM) Processes. This comes after the Auditor General (AG) last week revealed to council that the municipality spent over R395 million without supporting documents.
The DA councillor, Michael Kaars said this flagrant abuse of SCM processes under the guise of emergency procurement, which has become the norm and not the exception in Phokwane. Kaars said water tankering contracts, where contracts were awarded without following appropriate SCM processes, have resulted in irregular expenditure.
“Even the Deputy Minister of the Department of Water and Sanitation, Sello Seitlholo, previously voiced his concern that the Water Services Authority did not plan appropriately for procurement of water tankering services, resulting in the unnecessary use of emergency procedures to facilitate the procurement of these services.
“The DA welcomes an indication by the AG’s office that some issues are under investigation by the Hawks. We hope that those who are guilty of manipulating the procurement system for personal gain will soon be arrested and convicted. We will also closely monitor developments related to documentation that could not be made available to the AG by the time of the Audit,” he said.
Kaars further said he plans to table a motion at the next council meeting, pushing for bold action to stop the ongoing facilitation of corrupt processes through emergency procurement. He added that this must include imposing strict limitations and ensuring increased transparency and scrutiny of all emergency procurement.
“The people of Phokwane deserve real service delivery that is driven by a clean and corruption free municipality, not services driven by greed and criminality,” said Kaars.
The Guardian 