Wandisile Makwabe <\/a>says the council agreed on a budget of R300,000 for the event.<\/p>\nOn April 8, Makwabe signed off on a resolution which noted that \u201cthe municipality will settle approved costs upon receipt of a final invoice from the MBDA, following confirmation of deliverables\u201d.<\/p>\n
The implementer, the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA), says it too is satisfied with the event \u2014 and that an invoice report detailing expenses of R2.5m was being compiled for the metro.<\/p>\n
At the heart of the drama are three matters: the boxing tournament that was introduced at short notice, the particular service provider sub-contracted by the MBDA to organise the event, and the curious matter of the approved budget and the invoice resolution.<\/p>\n
Action SA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said on Friday his party was seriously concerned and was calling on the minister to probe the event, which appeared to have allegedly involved misuse of public funds.<\/p>\n
Trollip, a former DA mayor in the Bay, said the city\u2019s leadership was coming under increasing scrutiny from oversight and prosecuting authorities for alleged maladministration, financial mismanagement and tender irregularities. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe intensity of this scrutiny is starting to take its toll on an administration that has for too long been treating the council and the city\u2019s coffers as its own feeding trough.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the organisation of the film event was highly questionable in this regard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe council delegated the responsibility of hosting the Nelson Mandela Bay Film Office and Industry Showcase to the MBDA, with the council-approved budget of R500,000. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt then morphed into a boxing tournament that had to be hastily convened by an apparently hand-picked service provider, with a budget of R2.87m.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis abrogation of the prescribed supply chain management procedures raises several red flags that bear the hallmarks of state capture and fleecing of the public purse,\u201d Trollip said.<\/p>\n
He said Action SA had used information supplied by a whistleblower to advise the minister of these irregularities through the parliamentary question process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will await the minister\u2019s response to our questions and will push for a comprehensive investigation into this matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will demand criminal charges and prosecution of any official who is found responsible for subverting any Public Finance Management Act, Municipal Finance Management Act, or supply chain management provisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is any prevarication or reluctance on behalf of the national or local government structures to lay criminal charges, we will not hesitate to do so ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trollip\u2019s approved budget figure differs slightly from Makwabe\u2019s and his implementation figure similarly differs from that provided by the MBDA.<\/p>\n
Makwabe said the event was very successful and achieved all its intended objectives. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese objectives included the relaunch of the film office to provide a platform for the creative industry to engage and adopt resolutions towards the development of film.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the boxing element was introduced as entertainment, in line with what the stadium offered as a facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe event included first-class entertainment. It was a showcase for film, arts, heritage, sports and film tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked for the metro\u2019s view on how much money was budgeted and how much spent, as well as which service providers were appointed and how, Makwabe said he was more than satisfied.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe metro is very happy with the outcome, and the positive reviews of the intended beneficiaries. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe council resolution was clear on the budget aspect and MBDA as the implementer. <\/p>\n
\u201cAny service provider appointed was the responsibility of the MBDA, in line with their procurement processes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking on Friday, Makwabe there was no contradiction in these resolutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe approved budget for the event, as resolved by council, was in fact R300,000. <\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, the council also resolved that the MBDA will invoice the municipality for its expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council documents show that when the event was first tabled, there was no mention of boxing. <\/p>\n
Then in an April 25 event planning document, it pops up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn light of the short timelines remaining before the event, the ideal applicant for the boxing…. will be a promoter who is already battle-ready to promote a quality tournament in the shortest time possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the time the event was posted on the metro\u2019s Facebook platform on June 6, it was simply the Film & Boxing Festival.<\/p>\n
MBDA acting chief executive Unathi Peter said the event was a collaboration between the city, the agency, Mandela Bay Theatre Complex and the stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe [metro] accounting officer requested the MBDA to facilitate the events on their behalf and to bill the [metro] for all expenses incurred. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe post-event report is currently being drafted, in which amounts will be detailed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked which companies had been sub-contracted to organise the event and at what cost, Peter said three firms were appointed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe total cost is R2.5m.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pressed on the role of the main service provider, he said the company was appointed to negotiate with the event owner, Zantsi Productions, because it was able to secure a fee discount.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are an existing MBDA stadium service provider appointed in 2024\/2025 to support the commercial arm of the stadium. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey bring a wealth of knowledge, and provide this service to many of the major stadiums in SA. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs our commercial agent, they provided technical expertise in the activation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey negotiated the rights for the MBDA to partner with boxing promoter Zantsi Productions. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn this case, the boxing tournament was called Zibondiwe Ziyabila eGqeberha Boxing Extravaganza.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether there was a public tender process for the main sub-contracted company and if so how many bids were received, Peter said the company was an existing MBDA service provider with a three-year service level agreement.<\/p>\n
Follow The Herald WhatsApp channel today <\/a>and stay connected to the stories shaping our world.<\/p>\nThe Herald<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A recent metro film and boxing event has come under scrutiny amid questions about the more than R2m…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":738081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[265075,703,49,48,25302,1554,82,57089],"class_list":["post-738080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-action-sa","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-corruption","tag-film","tag-sports","tag-supply-chain-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=738080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}