The eThekwini Municipality has blacklisted several companies preventing them from doing work for the city.

Blacklisting is the act of disqualifying a person or entity from participating or continuing to participate in the procurement of the municipality. The municipality has blacklisted eight companies in 2024, which brings the total number of blacklisted entities to 32.

City manager, Musa Mbhele, said the reasons for the blacklisting include involvement in fraud and corruption, poor performance, collusive tendering, while some of the companies were found to have directors employed by the state.

“The municipality follows a very rigorous process to blacklist a service provider as per policy and the decision is not taken lightly. The application for blacklisting is initiated by the relevant line departments. It also emanates from findings of the line department, the City Integrity and Investigations Unit or the Auditor-General of South Africa following investigations which found improper business conduct,” said Mr Mbhele.

Mr Mbhele said after the application, notification of the intended blacklisting is given to the person or entity concerned to allow them the opportunity to respond to the allegations.

“A hearing is then set by the Blacklisting Committee within 20 days from the date of notice. This takes the form of a court application process, and where necessary, oral evidence is heard from the parties concerned. The Blacklisting Committee objectively applies its mind to the legalities of the matter and decides on the outcome within five days. Then an order is sent to all affected parties. The process is objective and strictly follows the Supply Chain Management Policy,” said Mr Mbhele.

The blacklisting is for five years which also means that the directors of the companies will be barred from doing business with the city, Mr Mbhele added. The city will also review other existing contracts that the companies in question currently have or are pending.

Once the process is complete, the city will then submit the list to National Treasury so that the companies can be struck off the central database. This will prevent contractors who have been blacklisted by the municipality from getting work from another municipality or government department.

Mr Mbhele said this is a warning to all service providers contracted by the municipality to ensure they are complying with contract, policy, and law.

“More importantly, they must ensure that their performance meets the expected standards. Sub-standard work will not be tolerated. A zero-tolerance approach has been adopted by the municipality in implementing the Blacklisting Policy to freeze out dodgy suppliers and ensure that ratepayers receive expedited and effective service delivery,” said Mr Mbhele.

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eThekwini municipality blacklists companies to combat fraud and corruption