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The Black Business Council (BBC) and Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) may be on a collision course after the latter did not take kindly to a letter that allegedly suggested that the BBC dictate tender specifications to the rail agency.
According to an email written by Prasa chairperson Khanyisile Kweyama to the National Association of Manufacturers in Electronic Components (Namec), and copied to BBC president Sandile Zungu, the BBC had attempted to dictate tender specifications to Prasa when its vice-president Keith Thabo, who is also Namec president, wrote a letter raising objections about the tender.
Namec is an affiliate of the BBC.
“As chair of Prasa, I am quite taken aback by the tone of the correspondence that seems to suggest that the BBC wants to write tender specs for Prasa, which would be highly irregular.
“Having said that, I recognise the importance of engaging with stakeholders as we do the work of transforming the procurement processes of SOEs [state-owned enterprises] that have been plagued by irregular and corrupt practices.
“We are careful to ensure that, as we are correcting problems of the past, we are not creating new ones,” part of the email reads.
Kweyama’s reaction comes after Thabo penned a two-page letter in his BBC capacity, raising several objections about one of Prasa’s rolling stock maintenance tenders.
However, according to at least three reliable sources close to the BBC, Thabo did not discuss the letter to Prasa with the rest of the office bearers, and that did not go down well with them, especially Zungu.
“Keith, on the other hand, also feels Prasa chair escalated him and reported him like a naughty child to Zungu and he is not happy at all,” one well-placed source said.
The letter, which City Press has seen, states that the BBC has objections to a number of specifications stated on the advertised tender.
The matters that the BBC raised as objections in the letter dated 7 January this year are: relying on old technology; not opening up or giving an opportunity to new entrants; relegation of the procurement function to the general overhual contracts; and the set bid bond requirement of R2 million, which it detailed as a “deliberate intent to exclude small and mostly black companies”.
Thabo confirmed the letter and said he believed Prasa was not making space for new black entrants.
“I am the president of organised business; the sectors affected spoke to me,” he said.
He also said he did not consult the rest of the leadership because he did not need to. “I am not accountable to them. I didn’t have to consult them. They will never call me because the only people that can call me to account is the council,” he said.
The BBC has recently faced the embarrassment of having some of its assets attached by the sheriff and being evicted from its Illovo offices for failing to pay rent over several months, amounting to almost R2 million, according to an official closer to the matter.
In a memo issued by BBC chief executive Kganki Matabane to members, the organisation admitted that it failed to negotiate with the landlord and that resulted in the court-ordered ejection from the premises a fortnight ago.
“The BBC would like to assure the members and all the stakeholders that the organisation is not being liquidated and is still fully operational,” the memo reads.
“I can confirm that the BBC will now be operating from the offices of one of its affiliates, the BMF [Black Management Forum]. The closure of its offices in the Illovo premises owned by Regiments Capital creates a wonderful opportunity for the BBC to be prudent, scale down its operations and leverage on the capacity of the affiliates that are more endowed financially, such as the BMF,” Zungu said at the time the premises were raided by the sheriff.
This week the BBC website was suspended, apparently also because of non-payment to the service provider involved.
Zungu and his leadership collective were voted in late last August after a bruising campaign wherein some of the millionaire stalwarts of the organisation backing him were said to have pledged financial support for its dry coffers.
Questions sent to Zungu, Matabane and Prasa, and subsequent follow-ups, were not responded to by the time of going to press.
