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Sodi tender link to Hammanskraal water disaster

Five Tshwane metro employees undergoing disciplinary hearing

Jeanette Chabalala Senior Reporter
Edwin Sodi testifies at the Commission of Inquiry Into State Capture on August 19, 2020 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Edwin Sodi testifies at the Commission of Inquiry Into State Capture on August 19, 2020 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Image: Lubabalo Lesolle (Luba)

The quality of water provided to the cholera-hit Hammanskraal would have improved to acceptable levels a year ago had its water treatment contract been awarded to a suitable firm and work completed according to plan. 

Instead, the tender to upgrade the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Plant was awarded to corruption accused, ANC benefactor Edwin Sodi, whose consortium did half the work and was allegedly paid R292m, the full value of the contract. 

As the city was thrust into the national spotlight this week following the death of 15 people from cholera, five Tshwane metro employees are undergoing disciplinary hearing for their role in the irregular awarding of the tender in 2019. The employees, who sat on the bid evaluation committee (BEC), all scored Sodi’s consortium 80 points for the tender, despite the company not fitting the grade, placing it above other bidders.

The contract was cancelled in August last year for alleged poor performance and a forensic report subsequently declared the awarding of the tender irregular. Yesterday, city manager Johann Mettler said the first phase of the contract which was awarded to CMS, NJR and Blackhead was to be completed in May last year but it hit several delays. 

“In general terms, we have to increase the capacity of Rooiwal from 110 (million litres) per day to 250-million per day. Together with all the new equipment, the quality of the effluent should be on standard. That should already be the case at the end of Phase 1,” said Mettler.

Last year the project was left incomplete at 60% of the first phase, with two further phases planned. 

Mettler said there is currently no work being done at Rooiwal while the city scrambles to further fund its completion.

“We are now busy looking at further supply chain processes in order to kick-start the project to completion. We are currently relooking our draft budget to allocate additional funding for Rooiwal,” said Mettler.

“In addition, we are approaching funding institutions to fund the completion of the Rooiwal project. We are working very closely with DW&S [department of water and sanitation] to deal with the Rooiwal project.

“We are busy with the recalculation but Phase 2 will not be less than R2.5bn with phase three coming in at about half of that. For the whole project to be completed the full three phases must be completed and that is what we are intending to do in one single project if we are successful with our funding application.”

In October last year, City of Tshwane councillors adopted a forensic report established to probe tender irregularities that cost the city nearly R300m.

That report recommended that five officials involved in the awarding of the tender should face a disciplinary hearing and also be criminally charged. The contract was awarded in October 2019, during DA's Stevens Mokgalapa's tenure as mayor of the city. 

According to the report, CMS, NJR and Blackhead JV should not have been allowed to bid as they did not have the required grading from the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). The grading is an indicator of how contractors handle their finances and assigned projects. 

The investigator also picked up that the evaluators allocated points to the winning companies “suspiciously”. 

“Thus, the expenditure in terms of this tender to the value of R291,996,799.07 was irregular, in line with section 1 of the Municipal Finance Management Act of 2003.”

Mettler said the implicated BEC members were still in the city's employ and are currently facing a disciplinary hearings which started in February. 

Mettler said they have also laid criminal charges against the employees and corporate entities in December last year.

Meanwhile, city spokesperson Selby Bokaba said they were spending millions of rand to ensure that the people of Hammanskraal receive drinkable water through water tankers until the refurbishment has been completed.

He said the city provided 52 tankers to service informal areas, five days a week, and 44 water trucks to formal areas daily.

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