A week ago we picked up an article in the Cape Argus that intimated tender irregularities in the City of Cape Town’s Tourism, Events and Marketing Directorate, headed up by Executive Director Anton Groenewald, reporting to Grant Pascoe, Mayoral Committee member for Tourism, Events, and Marketing.  Now action appears to have been taken, with a follow up report about a forensic investigation and the removal of laptops used by staff in the Directorate, including Councillor Pascoe’s computer!

The original article was difficult to follow, and we have re-read it, to summarise the report as follows:  A three year multi-million Rand contract for branding for Cape Town (no logo has been created for brand Cape Town by Groenewald’s Directorate yet, as far as we know, and certainly has not been revealed for comment to date) was at risk of being cancelled, just as it was to be awarded.  The proposed cancellation was denied by the City of Cape Town, even though the Cape Argus has documentation confirming the proposed cancellation.  The branding was to be used at events, the City of Cape Town’s Finance department spokesperson Priya Reddy said.  She also denied that cancelling the tender would be contrary to the host city agreement for the Chan soccer tournament in January, which includes a R6 million marketing commitment.  The cancellation of the tender would be contrary to the City of Cape Town’s supply chain management policy.

Central to the branding drama appears to be Carol Avenant, and here the Continue reading →