Opposition parties in eThekwini are calling on the municipality to defer signing long-term GO! Durban operating contracts until after the November 4 Local Government Elections, warning that the outgoing administration could bind a new council to agreements spanning up to 15 years.
The pushback follows Mayor Cyril Xaba’s announcement of an operational breakthrough with the public transport industry to launch the long-delayed Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network, which was first initiated in 2010.
Funded primarily through the National Department of Transport’s Public Transport Network Grant, the infrastructure and preparatory rollout has cost roughly R9.7 billion to date.
Xaba said, in a recent briefing, that the buses would hit the road for the first time in December after a 16-year-long delay. However, contracts with service providers, including vehicle operating companies (VOCs), would be concluded next month.
The mayor said that eThekwini would procure 22 buses that would operate on the main GO! Durban route, while operators would procure feeder transport through their vehicle operating company (VOC) or VOCs.
There would be a three-year stopgap contract, followed by a negotiated 12-year contract. eThekwini would be responsible for paying the VOCs to operate the service.
Regarding future costs, eThekwini Transport Authority director Nelisiwe Zama said at the briefing that expenditure of R2 billion was forecast for operating the service over the three-year period.
For eThekwini ratepayers, the price of delay is mounting, with an estimated R6 million a month spent on security and cleaning services for facilities on the project’s C3 routes from Bridge City to Pinetown, according to ActionSA leader Zwakele Mncwango.
Both ActionSA and the Democratic Alliance (DA) are questioning the timing and rationale behind rushing to conclude contracts that would bind the new administration for at least 12 years on the eve of the election.
The eThekwini Municipality is currently governed by an ANC-led coalition alongside smaller partners such as the NFP, formed after the ANC lost its outright majority in 2021.
The opposition parties questioned the sudden breakthrough in the city’s decade-long impasse with the taxi industry and called for the signing of the contracts to be deferred until after the election, in a bid to give the new administration an opportunity to make the necessary input on the agreements.
Mncwango said his party welcomed any genuine progress towards finally making GO! Durban operational after years of delays and billions of rand of public money being spent. However, he said the mayor’s announcement raised serious questions that could not simply be ignored.
“Our biggest concern is the timing. The mayor has announced that contracts between the City and the vehicle operating companies are expected to be finalised and signed during October. These arrangements include a three-year stopgap contract followed by a negotiated 12-year contract,” Mncwango said.
“These are significant, long-term commitments that could bind the municipality and future administrations for many years. What concerns ActionSA is that these agreements are expected to be concluded during the council recess, when there will be no ordinary council meetings to provide oversight.”
Mncwango said he would write to the mayor and eThekwini Speaker to ask for a postponement or, alternatively, to request that the Speaker convene a special council meeting to allow the council to scrutinise the contracts before they are signed.
“Why must agreements of this magnitude be signed during a period when elected councillors will have limited opportunity to exercise oversight? Why can’t the full agreements, financial implications, compensation arrangements and obligations of the municipality be placed before council and made available for scrutiny before anything is signed?” Mncwango asked.
DA eThekwini mayoral candidate Haniff Hoosen said it appeared that the municipality was rushing through many decisions mainly because of the ANC’s declining electoral support in eThekwini.
Hoosen’s response comes after a new Ipsos poll stated that the ANC may receive only 10% of the vote in the City, which was once its strongest region, with the MK Party expected to win a 55% majority.
“I want to issue a warning to them that if there are agreements that are signed which are unreasonable, unrealistic, irregular or illegal, we will hold the responsible person personally liable and will recover any losses from the people of the City,” Hoosen said.
In response to questions, eThekwini Municipality said the timing of the project was not driven by political timelines.
It said the National Department of Transport’s requirements relating to the winding down of the Public Transport Network Grant (PTNG) required the service to be operational by December for continued funding, and that this was the basis for the planned service launch.
In the written response, municipal spokesperson Senzelwe Mzila also said that all GO! Durban-related contracts and service-provider appointments were subject to the municipality’s standard supply-chain management processes and applicable legislation.
He said there was no separate procurement process for GO! Durban and that the duration of VOC contracts for service providers operating buses was enabled by the National Land Transport Act (NLTA).
KwaZulu-Natal provincial office manager of the South African National Taxi Association, Sifiso Shangase, said that although an agreement had been reached, a few outstanding issues needed to be addressed before the contracts could be signed, including the ownership percentage in the GO! Durban bus fleet.
Secondly, the municipality was expected to compensate current operators who did not want to be part of the project.
willem.phungula@nationalmg.co.za