Tens of million of rands paid by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality to its stadium operators is under scrutiny, forming part of the national Treasury’s probe into chaotic bus system.
An elaborate paper trail of internal documents, seen by The Herald, details how the city forks out hefty amounts monthly to pay for Access Management’s operational and other costs, in a complex contractual funding model which has come under the spotlight.
According to the invoices, the city paid at least R30-million to Access in the last three months.
This is a fraction of the millions paid to Access in recent years, which the Bay’s Ratepayers’ Association claims also unduly ends up in the coffers of the financially strapped EP Kings rugby team.
Access was contracted by the municipality to manage the world-class stadium until June next year. EP Rugby and the Premier Soccer League side Chippa United, which is also struggling financially, are anchor tenants at the R2-billion facility.
On Monday, ratepayers’ association chairman Kobus Gerber claimed the city had, through Access, bankrolled the Kings’ operational costs and player salaries for years.
While many of the documents show that the municipality pays Access, the paper trail does not show if and how much they pay to the Kings.
Nor does it show the agreements signed by all entities, which would determine the financial obligations of each party.
One of the documents seen is a memorandum written in September by chief financial officer Trevor Harper asking mayor Danny Jordaan to approve a R5-million
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