Hertta-Maria Amutenja
A restricted tender issued by the Tsumeb Municipality for the construction of 31 Build Together housing units in Nomtsoub Extension 8 is under scrutiny.
The Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement has accused the local authority of violating the Public Procurement Act.
The N$3.1 million tender was issued on 23 May 2025. AR’s Oshikoto regional activist, Johannes John, claims the tender process was hidden from the public and that a specific company was allegedly preselected to win the contract.
“We are taking issue with the manner in which they selected the companies. The Procurement Act says they may only select companies in an event where there are only limited suppliers or service providers available, or when they have run out of time. Now, to build those houses, there are a lot of businesses in Tsumeb with fitness and business certificates that are in good standing. And secondly, there are no issues with time because it has been standing for so long,” he said.
John submitted a formal complaint to the Tsumeb Municipality last week.
The letter was addressed to the chief executive officer, mayor, elected councillors, and head of procurement.
He said the letter was emailed first and later hand-delivered, but he has not received any response.
“It is deeply concerning that this tender was issued without public notification, violating the principles of transparency and fair competition. While our request comes just before the tender’s closing date, this timing is justified – the details were only recently intercepted by our internal intelligence unit, Eagle 25, due to a deliberate effort to conceal this process from the public,” the letter reads.
AR is demanding the immediate cancellation of the restricted bidding process.
They want the tender reissued as an open bid, in line with Section 27 of the Public Procurement Act, which makes open bidding the standard procedure.
The movement is also calling for the public release of the justification memo, the names of the six companies invited to bid, and any meeting minutes or resolutions that authorised the restricted bidding.
Tsumeb Mayor Mathews Hangula confirmed receiving the complaint and admitted that the process might have had flaws.
“I have seen a complaint from there, and one of the complaints is that during those restricted bidders, there were some companies that were handpicked, and some flaws were committed. I said I will study the complaint and at the same time also engage the office of the CEO, because ultimately, he is the one who approves the final bidder. If there were flaws committed, they will need to be rectified. But at this point in time, I cannot say there were administrative errors until I really get into the depth of the whole issue,” Hangula said.
He added that his office only provides resources to the relevant department, which is responsible for identifying and engaging capable service providers.
Efforts to get further comment from the Tsumeb Municipality were unsuccessful by the time of publication.
