It wasn’t me: Sodi blames dead partner for Rooiwal upgrade mess

Controversial businessman Edwin Sodi has blamed his late partner in the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant tender, saying the completion of the project failed due to the director’s fraudulent conduct.

Sodi was responding to the notice of intention by the City of Tshwane to blacklist his companies NJR Projects and Blackhead Consulting over the failed project.

NJR was in a joint venture with CMS Water Engineering that was awarded the R292m tender to upgrade the Rooiwaal wastewater treatment plant.

In June, Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink announced that the joint venture between Sodi's two companies NJR Projects and Blackhead Consulting as well as their partner CMS had been given 14 days to respond to the intention to blacklist them.

The move came eight months after the city first gave an instruction to serve Sodi with the notice.

Sodi's lawyers have since written to the city requesting it to "urgently" clarify whether it has already made a decision to blacklist the company, adding that, if so, they were instructed to challenge such a decision.

Part of the letter which Sowetan has seen reads: "The completion of the project ultimately failed due to the fraudulent conduct of Mr. R [Rudolf] Schoeman, a director of CMS Water.

"The consequence of the fraud perpetrated by Mr. Schoeman resulted in NJR laying criminal charges with the SAPS and pursuant to an investigation, Mr. Schoeman was arrested and charged with fraud."

Sodi said NJR was severely prejudiced by the criminal conduct of a rogue joint venture partner. The letter said it was "not fair nor reasonable to hold the directors and shareholders of our clients’ responsible in any way for the CMS’s shortcomings which rendered the joint venture unable to deliver on the project, bearing in mind that NJR tendered a rescue plan and Blackhead was not appointed to the project".

The companies were in 2019 awarded a R292m tender by the city to upgrade its Rooiwaal wastewater treatment plant to improve the quality of water in the cholera-hit Hammanskraal area.

More than 20 people died in that area from the waterborne disease.  

The contract was terminated in May last year and criminal charges laid against the three companies.

In their letter, Sodi's lawyers said that the restriction which the city is attempting to impose "is severe and has far reaching consequences for our clients. Accordingly, in order to give effect to fair and reasonable administrative action, our client/s should be afforded a fair hearing before any decisions are made." 

chabalalaj@sowetan.co.za