The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling for an investigation into the tendering process used for the Durban City Council's 2010 Web site, following an industry outcry over the cost.
The DA's deputy shadow minister of co-operative governance, Marti Wenger, says the party will ask municipal manager Mike Sutcliffe to investigate the matter, “to get to the bottom of what IT specialists have told us appears to be an exorbitant fee for any Web site”.
She says the DA will ask Sutcliffe to provide details of what budget vote the funds came from, when and where the tender for the project was advertised, how many tender bids were received and the cost of each of these applications, and how the final decision was made. “We will also be asking what steps the municipality will be undertaking to review this wasteful expenditure.”
Durban spent R6.5 million on its official 2010 Web site, which was intended to showcase the city's Fifa World Cup developments. Local developers and ITWeb readers have lambasted the city, saying the cost is far too high.
Despite ITWeb's numerous requests for a breakdown of the costs involved, neither the developer, Adapt-IT, nor the municipality provided details.
In the only statement it made on the matter, the municipality maintains the R6.5 million for the Web site is justified. It says the amount includes development costs, hosting costs, capital equipment and the materials needed for the various phases.
According to the city, the costs extend over two years. It also indicated the budget includes costs for shooting video and translation to isiZulu. “The Web servers have been specified to accommodate the development of the information portal post-2010, which will prevent further costs being incurred,” the council added in its statement.
Still a waste
Despite the council's assertions, IT professionals say the costs should have been less than 20% of the quoted figure.
Wenger says the DA's research shows similar results. “Using the specifications provided by the city council, the Web site could not possibly have cost more than R250 000, and may well have cost less than half of that amount.”
She adds the party wants Sutcliffe to investigate why the cost was so high, and where the additional money has gone. “Has the money been misappropriated by eThekwini municipal officials, or was the council simply duped out of over R5 million?”
According to Wenger, even if the costs for the site can be justified, spending that much for city marketing is a waste. “In KwaZulu-Natal, 33% of its inhabitants live below the poverty line and almost 300 000 people are living on less than R8 per day.”
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