The Office of the Public Protector has found that the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport irregularly implemented a provincial transport contract with the Putco bus company.

On Monday, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane released her findings after several complaints were brought to her office. One of them was a complaint by an organisation called Moloto Corridor Concerned Residents, which said the bus company had been enjoying a monopoly in the industry for the last 20 years.

"We found that the allegation that the GDRT (Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport) irregularly implemented Contract IC52/97 is substantiated. The investigation revealed that the original 136-week contract number IC52/97, which was awarded to Putco on 26 March 1997, had been continuously extended (evergreen contract) as at the date of this report," her office said.

The investigation also revealed that there were 108 bus contracts with similar conditions to the Putco bus contract. The Public Protector's office said the Competition Commission was willing to look into these contracts.

"The conduct of GDRT is in contravention of section 217 of the Constitution, section 38 of the PFMA (Public Finance Management Act), Treasury Regulation 16A6.4, paragraphs 8 and 9 of National Treasury Instruction 3 of 2016/2017 Preventing and Combating Abuse in the Supply Chain Management System, and section 42(3) of the NLTA (National Land Transport Act)," read the report.

The Public Protector called on the Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport to take note of the final report, adding that the renewal of the contract amounted to "improper conduct and maladministration".

The Public Protector found that the conduct of the GDRT, particularly the [head of department], was improper and constitutes improper conduct as envisaged in the Constitution and maladministration as envisaged in the Public Protector Act.

Mkhwebane has recommended that the head of the department provide her office with quarterly reports of meetings with the national Department of Transport, National Treasury and the Auditor-General to ensure compliance with relevant legislation on procurement processes.