Cape Town mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo has reversed the controversial award of prime beachfront property to black economic empowerment (BEE) companies — three with links to the African National Congress or its youth league — after a forensic audit found the tender process was ”flawed”.
The Big Bay deal was an out of hand sale of 65 plots in Bloubergstrand. Independent auditors described as ”arbitrary” the selection of 17 BEE concerns that stood to reap profits from the resale of the properties. The investigation comes after intense media focus on how the companies were chosen.
Mfeketo said the list of beneficiaries had not been compiled in a transparent way. ”We need to be accountable and we will consider redoing the whole process.” The entire auditor’s report was not released to the public because the mayor, ”on legal advice”, said the officials implicated had not yet been informed, pending an internal inquiry.
The 17 companies would be welcome to reapply in the new process, as long as they met the BEE requirements.
The auditors said the council had ”no guidelines or a policy existing for the definition, identification or evaluation of BEE entries or individuals or the achievement of BEE objectives”.
They also found that ”no attempt was made to extend an opportunity to all potentially qualifying parties”.