Wheels fall off R60m bus deal

The wheels have fallen off a R60-million bus contract to supply a new fleet of vehicles for a major service provider in the province.

Mayibuye Transport Corporation (MTC) was expecting a total of 50 new buses.

But one of the companies awarded the bulk of the lucrative tender, Siga Capital, has only delivered on half its allocation of 40 – and those that have arrived do not meet the tender specifications (see graphic on page 12).

The deal was given prominent exposure in a December Daily Dispatch report when Mayibuye held a launch to showcase 30 new buses.

It has emerged, however, that on that day only 11 buses were from the new fleet – 10 from co-supplier Ronnies Motors and one from Siga. The rest were existing Mayibuye vehicles given a spit and polish for the occasion, attended by premier Phumulo Masualle.

Siga Capital is owned by businessman Patuxolo Nodada, who, when contacted for comment on Thursday, asked for questions to be e-mailed to him.

No response had been received by yesterday evening.

The buses that were delivered to MTC by Nodada were built by Busmark, a bus and truck body manufacturer of which he is a director.

Questions sent to Busmark were also unanswered.

MTC insiders confirmed Siga Capital was contracted to deliver 40 buses and Ronnies Motors 10. The companies had 60 days to do so, a deadline Ronnies met.

But Siga had delivered only one bus by December 9, the day before the public unveiling.

In attendance with Masualle was his transport MEC Weziwe Tikana, Mayibuye CEO Ntombizine Madyibi, Buffalo City Metro executive mayor Alfred Mtsi and other dignitaries.

At the launch, Tikana said the state had spent more than R60-million on buying the buses.

Documents seen by the Dispatch show the Siga buses that have since been delivered deviated from the tender specifications.

Some of the problems include:

• The wrong gearboxes being fitted;
• No LED interior lights;
• Manually operated passenger doors instead of pneumatically-controlled ones;
• A lack of MTC branding; and
• No bullet-proof partition to safeguard drivers.

A Mayibuye source said the company was losing money as the buses were now standing idle at the depot.

“They can’t be used because if they break, we have to fix them using millions of rands. The company is really losing money and the person who won the tender is mum,” said the source.

“Each bus costs Mayibuye Transport anything between R1.5-million and R2-million.”

Another source said: “They didn’t meet the specifications while millions were paid to them. This could lead to other bidders, who lost out, challenging us.”

In a statement, Madyibi confirmed that Siga had not delivered on time.

“It is a fact that one of the service providers that was expected to deliver 20 buses on the day did not deliver on time.

Madyibi said the matter was being handled internally.

“MTC prefers not to divulge the discussions to the media as it might have legal implications.”

She said the 21 Siga buses delivered did “not fully meet the specifications”.

“Hence, we have not taken delivery of the buses pending their full compliance with the specification. The service provider has undertaken to rectify the outstanding fitments to the 21 buses.”

Department of transport spokesman Ncedo Kumbaca said the department was aware of the situation.

“MTC is handling this matter. The department is aware, through our representative who is sitting on the board, and we are monitoring the situation,” said Kumbaca.

On behalf of Masualle, Eastern Cape government spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said the premier had been invited to attend the ceremony last month.

“The brief was 30 of the total of 50 buses (to be handed over). The premier had no reason to doubt the brief,” said Kupelo. — bonganif@dispatch.co.za