From as far back as 2014 the Gauteng government has awarded controversial businessman Edwin Sodi’s company, Blackhead Consulting, contracts to manage the building or rehabilitation of schools in Gauteng.
As revelations emerged in the Zondo commission about his role in the irregular asbestos tender in the Free State, for which he is being prosecuted, the opposition began to ask questions about his dealings with the Gauteng government.
Awkward questions were raised about how the Gauteng provincial government could sustain its tenders with Sodi’s company in the face of such allegations against him and, crucially, his evident failure to deliver in some projects.
Consequently, the Gauteng government reviewed its contracts with Blackhead Consulting and in March 2021 cancelled four of the five contracts to build schools.
The remaining contract was to provide consulting and the project management services for the building of Barcelona Primary School in Benoni.
The school community has been waiting for a proper structure to be built for decades while pupils are packed in overcrowded prefab classrooms.
Sodi was appointed as a consultant and project manager in July 2018.
To date not a single classroom has been built while he had been paid at least R1,8m by 2020.
The government has told this publication that the project is still at procurement stage, suggesting that a search for a contractor to do the work is underway.
Some have argued that the lack of progress in the project cannot legitimately be laid at Sodi’s door as the scope of his work is limited to that of consultant and project manager.
Herein lies the problem.
There is no evidence in the public domain to suggest that any work done by Sodi on this project has moved the needle to justify earning him over a million rand by 2020.
If there is, the provincial department ought to be transparent about it to help the public understand the value of his contribution paid for by the taxpayer.
Furthermore, it is not unreasonable to view this project and Sodi’s involvement in it in a similar fashion to the many government contracts from which he has unduly benefitted only to leave work incomplete.
The department must account for the delays in this project and, equally, what role Sodi has played that has earned him what he has been paid so far.
SOWETAN | Why does Sodi still benefit?
Image: Mlungisi Louw
From as far back as 2014 the Gauteng government has awarded controversial businessman Edwin Sodi’s company, Blackhead Consulting, contracts to manage the building or rehabilitation of schools in Gauteng.
As revelations emerged in the Zondo commission about his role in the irregular asbestos tender in the Free State, for which he is being prosecuted, the opposition began to ask questions about his dealings with the Gauteng government.
Awkward questions were raised about how the Gauteng provincial government could sustain its tenders with Sodi’s company in the face of such allegations against him and, crucially, his evident failure to deliver in some projects.
Consequently, the Gauteng government reviewed its contracts with Blackhead Consulting and in March 2021 cancelled four of the five contracts to build schools.
The remaining contract was to provide consulting and the project management services for the building of Barcelona Primary School in Benoni.
The school community has been waiting for a proper structure to be built for decades while pupils are packed in overcrowded prefab classrooms.
Sodi was appointed as a consultant and project manager in July 2018.
To date not a single classroom has been built while he had been paid at least R1,8m by 2020.
The government has told this publication that the project is still at procurement stage, suggesting that a search for a contractor to do the work is underway.
Some have argued that the lack of progress in the project cannot legitimately be laid at Sodi’s door as the scope of his work is limited to that of consultant and project manager.
Herein lies the problem.
There is no evidence in the public domain to suggest that any work done by Sodi on this project has moved the needle to justify earning him over a million rand by 2020.
If there is, the provincial department ought to be transparent about it to help the public understand the value of his contribution paid for by the taxpayer.
Furthermore, it is not unreasonable to view this project and Sodi’s involvement in it in a similar fashion to the many government contracts from which he has unduly benefitted only to leave work incomplete.
The department must account for the delays in this project and, equally, what role Sodi has played that has earned him what he has been paid so far.
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