Supply Chain Management

Certain positions such as senior management service, supply chain management, or financial officers are considered high risk and should be subject to more scrutiny in lifestyle audits.

“If somebody is in these senior management service, that is a high risk function. If somebody is in supply chain management or a financial officer, that is potentially higher risk and so we should apply more scrutiny.”

Maj-Gen Senona testified about security concerns including alleged burning smells observed by another member but failed to escalate these concerns to his attention after attempts with Supply Chain Management and these concerns were never brought to his attention prior to drug storage at Port Shepstone.

“He testified about these security concerns...At no stage were these security concerns at Port Shepstone brought to my attention prior to the storage of these drugs there.”

Brigadier Nyuswa confirms Supply Chain management reported directly to General Senona and he also reported to General Senona about procuring enhanced security measures at Port Shepstone during the period including 2018 to 2020.

“They were reporting directly to General Senona... During that period, because this date back from 2018, even before I assumed the position in 2020, there were problems with the security at Port Shepstone.”

Brigadier Nyuswa was the main person reporting to General Senona about enhanced security efforts at Port Shepstone, with Captain van Niekerk from Supply Chain Management also involved in reporting.

“nobody...Oh, ja, yes, yes...It was Captain van Niekerk.”

Brigadier Nyuswa was not notified about Warrant Officer Sander's move to Supply Chain Management but was involved in the corruption investigation against him.

“You say when you came back you found out and were just notified that Warrant Officer Sander had been moved to Supply Chain Management ... you were involved in the investigation of serious allegations of corruption against him”

By 13 February 2024, General Senona was in a position to place Warrant Officer Sander on temporary placement to Supply Chain Management, but there was no indication that the complainant had been consulted or interviewed at that time.

“by the 13th of February 2024 General Senona was in a position to place Warrant Officer Sander on temporary placement to Supply Chain Management”

Colonel Jacob proposed that the investigation on Warrant Officer Sandertel is over and that there was no reason to keep him at Supply Chain Management, so he returned to the unit.

“I am the one who proposed now it is over , there is no reason to keep him at Supply Chain Management and that is when he came back to the unit”

Requests for security and armed response were made to Supply Chain Management and Brigadier Nyuswa but were ignored despite repeated break-ins.

“Our request for security and armed response was again sent to Supply Chain Management and even sent to Brigadier Nyuswa. In fact, it had turned into a plea for help. It was very important that the DPCI’s office had a working alarm system linked to a security company. However, our request was ignored.”

Somebody in supply chain management gave the office a draft report although the officials were unable to find the bid register.

“Somebody in supply chain management had given them a draft report.”

Budget increases for the TMPD require a motivation and approval by Divisional Heads within Supply Chain Management and Procurement, specifically Cain Mpofu and Vusi.

“It is a delegated function that is delegated to the Divisional Head within Supply Chain Management and the Procurement, so it would have been Cain as well as Vusi.”

While invoices had already been confirmed and signed off by relevant departments including APSS, the Deputy Chief was coordinating a deadlock over budget and cost centre consumption to proceed with purchase orders, but did not give step-by-step feedback on his location in the process.

“Yes. So, while this was happening, a lot was happening in the background, Commissioner. A lot was happening in the background, where the Deputy Chief was obviously in engagements with individuals from APSS, Supply Chain Management. He played a role that coordinated all parties. He did not give a step-by-step feedback where he was. What is important for us to take note of, at this stage, invoices had already been confirmed and signed off by the relevant departments, by APSS, as seen with one example here. So, invoices were not being submitted from scratch, and the process was not starting from scratch. The process had halted at this stage and was at a stage where purchase orders needed to be processed on the system.”

The witness attached bundles GM22 and GM23 showing that on 29 January, representatives from Gubis Security Services escalated communications for payment to Supply Chain Management, but no action was taken by SCM, prompting escalation to the witness via email.

“I think, in short, this is not the first time the matter is brought to my attention. I attached in my second bundle GM22 and GM23, where the first discussions started occurring, when representatives from Gubis Security Services were sending escalation communications to Supply Chain Management requesting for payment. That was on the 29th of, no, no, yes, 29th of January. It is there in Annexure GM22. Nothing is done by Supply Chain Management. The representatives of Gubis escalated that matter to me formally through email, and that is clearly indicated in”

Matters related to outstanding payments require following proper processes and cannot be resolved by bypassing established protocols, including avoiding backdoor dealings.

“You cannot jump a process when escalating matters that are outstanding, Chair. That is the context of that. So, this is the individuals trying to use a backdoor to deal with this outstanding payment, whereas they are fully aware of the protocol that they had followed previously. So, they need to follow those processes. Once I am convinced that there is sufficient appropriate audit evidence, and the TMPD as well as supply chain management have either not dealt with this issue for whatever reason, I can then take it forward.”

The procedure for dealing with the previous financial year invoice requires raising it with TMPD, then if unresolved, escalating to Supply Chain Management, and finally escalating to the CFO as the last resort.

“As I understood it, it was they should first raise it with the TMPD. If they got no joy there, they should then raise it with Supply Chain Management. If they got no joy there, they should escalate it to you. So, you should be the last port of call, not the first.”

The matter about the outstanding payments started with supply chain management, not with Mr M N I S I, contradicting General Dlamini's understanding.

“Gubis did not start with me . They started with supply chain management . And maybe we should go to GM 22 and 23 . They started escalating , so they did not start with me .”

The physical verification is conducted on site by the Bid Evaluation Committee made up of multifaceted individuals from supply chain management, TMPD, and the user department responsible for utilising the tender.

“...the Bid Evaluation Committee , I am going to reiterate , Chairperson , they are made up of multifaceted individuals across the City from supply chain management , TMPD , as well as the user department that is responsible for utilising this tender . They then must go out on site and conduct physical inspections and validate whether the vehicles that have been provided as part and parcel of the bid are actually those vehicles ...”

Mr Mnisi escalated the unpaid invoice matter to Supply Chain Management and Mr Malatji, responsible for managing asset management issues.

“So when I escalate the matter, I escalate it to Supply Chain Management and Mr Malatji, who was responsible for managing asset management issues.”

Deputy Chief Umashi Dhlamini intervened to coordinate between departments to resolve the matter of outstanding invoices for security services.

“Following the intervention of Deputy Chief Umashi Dhlamini, City's Water and Sanitation Business Unit confirmed that the invoices and the services were rendered to TMPD...Deputy Chief Umashi Dhlamini assisted in coordinating these engagements between the City's Group Water and Sanitation Business Unit, TMPD and Supply Chain Management to facilitate a resolution of the matter at hand.”

The purchase order is to recognize expenditure on the system and credit the relevant general ledger or cost centre account. It is generated internally after deployment letter and invoice submission to enable payment authorization within the City.

“the purpose of the purchase order is to now recognise the expenditure on the system , credit the relevant GL . GL , I mean the general ledger or cost centre account ... The deployment letter is a manual letter that is signed by an individual issued outside the system ... The only form which will enable a payment in the form of a document that recognises or authorises a payment is purchase orders . So what happens , Chair , is that the user department uploads the necessary documents , which would include the invoice , that deployment letter , the appointment letters , the SLA ' s of these particular service providers to the system . They then generate those purchase orders in conjunction with the City ' s Supply Chain Management function”

Deputy Chief Dhlamini attended a meeting in March 2025 with Mr Cain Mpofu of Supply Chain Management and representatives of Gubis 85 Solution regarding outstanding payments owed to Gubis 85.

“The interactions I had with director of Gubis 85 was when Mr Cain Mpofu of Supply Chain Management invited me to a meeting at his office. However, I cannot recall the date of the meeting, but it was around March 2025. The meeting was attended between Mr Mahlangu and Mr Kgwadi of Gubis 85 Solution and Mr Mpofu and myself. The meeting was called because Mr Mahlangu raised concern with outstanding payments relating to his company.”

Supply Chain Management (SCM) assessed the tender process and found violations in the tender evaluation stage, rendering the bid non-compliant and unauthorized removal of bid documents from SCM premises to an unconfirmed venue.

“SCM assessed the process followed violations of the tender evaluation stage were noted, thus rendering the bid as non-compliant. ... unauthorized removal of the bid documents from SCM premises to a venue that had not been confirmed as appropriate”

Both Director Malatji and the BEC found the supply chain management premises unsafe to proceed, resulting in documents being removed.

“the BEC found the supply chain management premises unsafe to proceed. Hence the documents were removed there.”

Supply chain management was involved in the process and gave integrity assurances about moving the documents or bids, including inspection at the venue at Premosa.

“supply chain management was involved ... a senior guy within the supply chain management acquisition department ... even went to an extent of seeing the venue at Premosa and gave it a go ahead”

There was a resignation of an SCM official from the BEC process, contributing to non-compliances and improper constitution of the BEC according to regulations.

“there was non-compliance since there was a resignation of an SCM official from the process, from the BEC”

The bid was not evaluated in accordance with the prescribed SCM policies and procedures, constituting an abuse of the supply chain management system.

“the bid was not evaluated in accordance with the prescribed SCM policies and procedures”

The bid was cancelled due to identified irregularities and abuse of the supply chain management system, with recommended steps to combat these abuses.

“... in a concerted effort to combat the abuse of supply chain management system, SCM recommends that ... ... the bid be cancelled ...”

The integrity of bids handed over to the BEC was maintained in that all bids received were in line with the compiled list, though the bids were not sealed when handed to the BEC, as the unsealing was done by supply chain management administrative officials before.

“The integrity of the bids received handed over to the BEC ... The bids are normally received sealed by supply chain management administrative officials. They get unsealed by supply chain administration to ... before they are handed over to the BEC. As a result, the bids handed to the BEC were not sealed.”

Bids are normally received sealed by SCM administration officials at the point of submission (when bid closes).

“at the point when they are submitted, when the bid closes, when they submit them”

The Supply Chain Management advertised tender TMPD 2 2016-2017 in September 2016 together with other tenders.

“The Supply Chain Management subsequently advertised their tender, TMPD 2, 2016-017, in September 2016 together with other tenders.”

Director Malatji was involved in preparing the bid specification and considers it "his bid", but he did not participate in the Bid Adjudication Committee (BEC) process where the report is taken after submission to supply chain management.

“it is basically your tender. The very fact that you are asked right at the start to prepare the bid specification, it is your bid.”

Malatji was not informed of any irregularities occurring during the BEC's job or in communication reported back to supply chain management.

“us or myself as a member who participated, being called and getting informed about irregularities that might have happened in the run-up to the BEC completing its job and handing over the report and the documents back to supply chain management. Such communication, no.”

Director Malatji admits he was the nominated contact person for the tender and clarifies he is the director responsible for the relevant function but not in supply chain management.

“I was the contact person... I am not in Supply Chain Management. I am the director responsible for the function”

Commissioner Faro denies having knowledge or being involved in the agreements related to service level agreements with million rand values, asserting that the processes after Metro Police's involvement fall under the department of Supply Chain Management.

“I do not agree with that statement. As I said, the processes after Metro Police's involvement stops, it is solely in the department of Supply Chain Management. Unless we are going to, maybe through this Commission, then change where there is gaps. If it is not the case that your involvement is therefore drawing up SLA’s and assisting with the SLA’s, and you get a meeting request to be there, and you get the involvement where you must actually, here is the successful bidder, so you can have a question and answer before the service level agreement comes to your table. It cannot be said, if you are not being said you must be involved, or that you are not involved, that you have failed. I do not agree with that statement.”

The City of Tshwane is investigating alleged cases of corruption involving municipal officials in the Supply Chain Management and Finance departments related to awarding tenders without following proper processes, leading to financial loss.

“This office is investigating alleged case of corruption against City of Tshwane municipal officials attached to Supply Chain Management together with Finance officials. It is alleged that about four entities were awarded tenders without following proper Supply Chain Management processes leading to the City of Tshwane municipal departments suffering financial loss.”