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Cape Town – Three tenders the Department of Energy (DoE) issued totalling about R173m require further investigation, according to Democratic Alliance MP Gordon Mackay.
His concern was raised during Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Energy session, in which the DoE tabled 16 service contracts it entered into from 2013 to 2016 in the run-up to the nuclear new build programme.
The first red flag was over Central Lake Trading’s R171m tender. The company is owned by by Shantan Reddy, the son of President Jacob Zuma’s friend Vivian Reddy.
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“It is very strange when the DoE is not the procuring agent for nuclear,” Mackay said. “The DoE piggy-backed on a tender from the Free State government for this tender.
“The department has (not) yet made any information (available) as to why they did not issue their own tender,” he said.
“In comments to the media, the DoE said it was a deviation from procurement processes.”
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The second red flag was over Zimkile Consulting’s R469 114 tender for the development of training material of first responders for nuclear and radiological emergencies.
“Zimkile Consulting doesn’t even have a functional website,” he said. “It is impossible to assess whether this firm has the required skill sets.”
The third red flag regarded Nathan Gift Nhlapo, who he said was the in-house counsel of the National Nuclear Regulator from 2004-2011.
“It might smack of a conflict of interest,” he said. "Ït raises a red flag.”
Nathan Gift Nhlapo won three tenders worth about R1.5m from 2013 to 2016.
