Housing parastatal, the Housing Development Agency (HDA), awarded two contracts worth hundreds of thousands of rand irregularly in the 2010/11 financial year.
The tenders, worth R847 000 and R576 000, were issued to two companies – Exact Cape and Young Blood – through either a written quotation system or without any quote on November 2, 2010 and March 22 last year, respectively.
This was despite the National Treasury regulations requiring competitive bids for contracts above R500 000.
The Star Africa can also reveal that the agency awarded another contract worth R249 000 to the sister-in-law of its CEO, Taffy Adler, in May last year.
Josie Adler confirmed yesterday that she was doing business with the agency.
She also conceded that she was married to Taffy Adler’s brother, David, but denied any wrongdoing.
Exact Cape and Young Blood’s contracts had been part of 32 deviations (tenders awarded outside the normal supply chain) by the agency last year, according to documents that The Star Africa has in its possession.
The agency, which has a budget of R92 million, had been established in terms of the Housing Development Agency Act of 2008, in a government attempt to deal with the housing shortage in SA.
According to a document from the agency’s supply chain management unit, it deviated from tender processes when awarding Exact Cape the tenders because “no quotes were obtained”.
The document stated that the reason for the Young Blood tender deviation was because “quotes exceeded R500 000”.
Josie Adler, a social development consultant, had been awarded a tender worth R650 an hour “to assist with the neighbourhood development area’’ in Joburg. Her contract was signed in May last year.
The tender had come into effect on August 31, 2010 and ‘‘shall terminate on 30th September 2011, unless terminated or redefined in terms of clause 9 or by mutual agreement between parties”.
Josie Adler, 68, said yesterday that the fact that she was Taffy Adler’s sister-in-law “has been public knowledge since 1971”.
She said she was a professional community development agent, who had worked tirelessly resettling the poor from the squatter camps and that she should be judged on merit.
“This matter has been dealt with before, but it keeps popping up and it’s like a bad smell to me. I am really not interested,” she said, before referring further enquiries to the agency and Sexwale’s office.
Another contract awarded without a quotation because “continuity (was) required” had been awarded to Blazing Solutions. The firm is owned by Sally Blaine, who is said to be close to Taffy Adler.
The R494 760 tender was issued on September 6, last year.
Blaine confirmed that auditors queried her tender, but said nothing untoward was found.
“As far as I am aware, there was an audit query in the draft audit report, not in terms of the validity of the contract, but relating to the failure of the HDA procurement office to produce the full contract and my valid tax clearance certificate. The HDA subsequently found and produced these documents to the auditors and the query was resolved and cleared by the auditors and audit committee,” Blaine said.
She denied her tender was R495 000, saying it was R168 000 ‘‘billable on a time-used basis”.
Blaine said she had been appointed through a competitive bidding process because she was an expert who had “extensive experience in organisational development, strategy and HR-related matters in the housing sector and ‘‘my price competitiveness informed the decision’’.
Two employees said the agency had been “paralysed” by infighting, nepotism, fear and tender irregularities.
They said that the agency’s former human resources manager, Cate Mamabolo, was pushed out in February for speaking out against irregularities and protecting staff members who were being victimised.
Mamabolo could not be reached for comment.
An employee said “generally, morale is low here. Remember, we do not know whether we are part of the government or Taffy Incorporated. He runs the agency as if it is his own private company”.
Kate Shand, the agency’s spokesperson, said “a copy of the internal audit into our procurement processes, published on the Department of Human Settlements website, found no evidence of irregularity …
“We would like to emphasise that the HDA received a clean audit for its financial and procurement management during the period in question from both its internal auditors and the Auditor-General of South Africa”.
She referred further enquiries to a statement released by Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale last month.
Sexwale, who oversees the agency, had said he had intervened, through his advisers – Barney Ntlou and Richard Dyantyi – after corruption and allegations were brought to his attention in December.
Taffy Adler has repeatedly denied allegations of nepotism, financial mismanagement and tender irregularities.
- The Star
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