Ngqushwa Municipality's Christmas lights event is up in the air after the Eastern Cape council ‘retracted’ its social media advertisement for the function, following complaints about the tendering process.

The Peddie-based municipality's event was scheduled to take place at the Ngqushwa Gardens on 13 December, reports News24.

A social media advert was posted on the municipality's Facebook page on 3 December, the same day as the deadline for submission of bid proposals for the event.

Bidders were called to submit their proposals and pricing for seven local artists, one crowd-puller and two programme directors.

The tender was published on the municipality's website on 26 November 2024. 

But the social media poster – which had East London songstress Zintle Kwaaiman as a crowd-puller – raised eyebrows from social media users who questioned the timing of the advert, given the bidding process.

The municipality has since removed the poster from its social media page without any explanation.

Residents, mostly in Peddie, flooded the usually quiet Facebook page to demand why the advert was pulled.

Municipal spokesperson Ncumisa Cakwe said on Friday that tendering for the event was ‘still in process’.

Cakwe refused to answer specific questions about publicising a line-up of artists on the day of the closing date for the submission of bids. She also refused to respond to the retraction of the event poster on the municipality’s Facebook page.

Meanwhile, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is investigating allegations of maladministration, corruption, and fraud pertaining to two contracts at the municipality.

President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a proclamation authorising the SIU to investigate irregularities into the procurement of a mayoral luxury SUV and upgrades to a sports field between 2019 and 2024.

Full News24 report