Pictured: Graham Pirie, CEO of CESA, and Victor Terblanche, CEO of Leads 2 Business

Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) recently announced it had set aside one million rand towards its anti-corruption ‘war chest’, which it plans to use to take legal action against corrupt municipalities and private companies that have acted irregularly in the process of awarding or securing contracts.

Adding its voice to this initiative is Leads 2 Business (L2B), which donated R100 000 towards the fund.

Victor Terblanche, L2B Founder and CEO, says: “Our subscribers are feeling the brunt of the gluttony practiced by corrupt officials and fly by night companies; it’s about time that we unite and front up against the scourge that is so blatantly prevalent within the tendering industry.

He adds: “Ethical professionals, contractors and suppliers alike are adversely affected by anti-competitive behaviour in the form of incompetence, corrupt practices, mismanagement, irregularities and outright fraud.

“With L2B being at the forefront of tender notifications, we are in a position to identify irregularities in the bidding processes and to date have forwarded numerous tenders and tender awards to CESA’s offices for fraudulent investigation. Impractical and unreasonable time frames contrary to regular bidding practice and sporadic media advertisements are amongst the criteria we use to identify untoward or suspicious behaviour. We commend CESA for taking up this initiative and have pledged our full support to the endeavour.”