Centlec suspends a manager alleged to have flawed SCM processes

Centlec SOC has suspended, Mahlomola Seleso, the company’s Supply Chain director for allegedly misleading the Bid Evaluation Committee and Bid Adjudicating Committee which led to the high court ruling the tender unlawful.

In December 2021, The Free State High Court ruled in favor of Defensor Security, following their application that sought the tender awarded to Ignite Security be set aside and declared unlawful.

Power cut at Centlec, as judge declares tender irregular

According to sources at the power utility Seleso; Centlec Supply Chain Manager has been placed on precautionary suspension pending the finalization of disciplinary processes.

This is allegedly due to the Defensor Security case in which the validity of the tender was in question.
The bone of contention was that Centlec was required to request written consent from bidders to extend the validity period to enable it to finalize the tender adjudication process and award but no lawful extension happened as Defensor argued they did not receive any request as required. The request only came 20 days later.

A source known to this publication who spoke on condition of anonymity said the supply chain manager failed to advise the bid committees of the failure by Centlec to request a validity extension.
 
It is not clear how much Centlec paid Ignite Security and legal costs as they were ordered to pay costs of Defensor Security.

This matter has taken Centlec roughly 4 months to take action, which is guessed better late than never.

Lele Mamatu, Centlec spokesperson for Centlec confirmed the suspension.  
 
“Yes, we can confirm that the SCM Manager has been placed on precautionary suspension.
 
Because the matter is sub judice we are not in a position to give further details at this stage.”

This is a developing story

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