Mystery surrounds the origins of expensive wireless headsets costing about R1 029 each and handed out to the 270 councillors in the City of Johannesburg Council seating on Wednesday.
The DA’s Mohammed Alex Christians told Newsnote it is concerning that no one seems to know how the headsets landed on their desks when even the Speaker seems unaware of the source or the donor.
“When we arrived at the council we were given a piece of paper with a name on it and headphones that we needed to sign for it. In terms of the Code of Conduct when we receive a gift that’s over R400 we need to declare.
“Because of lack of clarity on how the headsets landed on our desks I asked the Speaker and I could see she had no idea where this came from. The cost to the City should have been around R275 000 to R300 000, our members that are in the oversight committee in the legislature will be asked whether a tender was given out for this and who was awarded it to what amount.”
Christians said he didn’t want to speculate if there were tender irregularities involved but he was “concerned about how the Speaker reacted when asked how the process unfolded”.
Council Speaker Colleen Makhubele said she will investigate how the headsets were procured, for what and why they ended up in council.
“So the Acting Secretary in Council who is in charge of all procurement and who works with the Department of ICT whom I believe they came from…we still want to understand why they procured them.
“They should have been procured through our office, Council Affairs normally that’s how they distribute tools of trade, like laptops, USB’s and other things they would be the right channel,” she concluded.
