City of Johannesburg Mayor, Herman Mashaba has ordered an investigation into Pikitup’s acquisition of six unused waste crushers which were bought in 2014, at a cost of R36 million following a tip-off.

According to Mashaba one of the bidders that participated in the tender process was able to supply the specified crushers for approximately R10 million less.

In a statement released on Tuesday Mashaba said the tender was ultimately awarded to a service provider who was unable to provide suitable crushers with the specifications required by Pikitup. As a result the city now spends R9 000 a day to hire crushers from the bidder who lost the tender.

“The lower specification crushers were unable to effectively crush waste and therefore Pikitup is now required to hire additional equipment to crush waste,” he explained. Four of the unused crushers are standing at Robinson Landfill Site in Stafford, south of Johannesburg.

Weighbridge woes

Mashaba said he was informed of another incident involving tender corruption where Pikitup issued a tender for the construction and operation of weighbridges at four Pikitup landfill sites at a cost of approximately R23 million during 2011.

The tender was for the construction of the weighbridges and for the implementation of software to operate the weigh bridges).

According to Mashaba the weighbridges were allegedly constructed, but the implementation of the software to operate the weighbridges has not yet been supplied.

“Despite this, the service provider received advance payment for the software component but it hasn’t been supplied,” he said.

The mayor said the city’s Group Forensic and Investigation Services (GFIS) team would be looking into both matters.