MBABANE – EWADE Chief Executive Officer Dr Samson Sithole, has firmly dismissed allegations that the awarding of the E154.8 million contracts to a Chinese consortium was tainted by favouritism.
In an interview with the Times of Eswatini Business Desk, Dr Sithole described recent claims suggesting that EWADE overlooked local firms in favour of foreign bidders as ‘unfounded and misleading,’ insisting that the evaluation process followed both the Public Procurement Act and the strict rules of international financiers.
“Our duty is to deliver value for money and ensure climate-resilient infrastructure for emaSwati,” Dr Sithole explained.
“The evaluation was conducted fairly, transparently and with full accountability. No bidder was ever treated unfairly or given undue advantage.”
The controversy erupted after the Mkhondvo–Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Programme (MNWAP) Phase 1B Lot 2 and Lot 3 contracts were awarded to the ZTCS Joint Venture, a partnership between China’s Zhengtai Group and Cherry Splash.
Local contractors and some media reports questioned why Eswatini companies were not selected for the lucrative projects. However, tender documents tell a different story.
Dr Sithole revealed that the evaluation began with a compliance checklist guided by the African Development Bank (AfDB) procurement rules.
At this early stage, several bidders, including local firms – were disqualified for reportedly failing to meet basic requirements such as submitting correct forms or mandatory bid security.
“One local bidder was financially capable, but used an unofficial Letter of Bid form and quoted abnormally low rates – even zero Emalangeni for key items,” Dr Sithole said. “When asked for clarification, they admitted the mistakes, but could not convince evaluators that this did not pose a risk. Their bid had to be rejected.”
Another local firm, he added, proposed to complete the project in 14 months rather than the required 36 months and left out critical activities like pipeline testing and training.
“These oversights, though perhaps unintentional, made it impossible to accept their bids. Even some foreign firms made similar errors. One failed to submit the bid security and another submitted the wrong form. All were disqualified at the compliance stage,” Dr Sithole noted.
Full article available in our publication.
Leave a comment