Madlanga Commission: Mnisi questioned about failure to stop apparent tender fraud

The City of Tshwane’s suspended chief financial officer (CFO), Gareth Mnisi, was questioned at the Madlanga Commission on Tuesday about not acting to stop apparent tender fraud in the municipality.

In December 2024, the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality advertised a tender for security companies to guard some of its critical infrastructure.

During the probity audit of the tender, it was established that members of the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) made the unusual decision of filing their recommendation on the tender, a day before scoring the bidders.

In normal circumstances, the BEC scores the bidders first before making its recommendation.

The Bid Adjudication Committee (BAC), which Mnisi chairs, later cancelled the tender claiming.

However, it was for different reasons, primarily missing documents.

“You didn’t see fit to put in place mechanisms to investigate what appeared to be an out-and-out fraud in this relation, where a series of BEC members made a recommendation a day before they purported to score the bidders,” said evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson.

Said Mnisi: “At that point in time, we confined ourselves to procurement-related matters. In hindsight, I agree that as the BAC, we should have considered that, and it’s a matter that should have been raised.”

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