Mashambe’s contract woes Boss loses 14 employees because of nonpayment
Subcontractor Hendrick Mashambe claims he has been waiting four years to be paid for a job he started in 2014.
Mashambe, 57, of Sophiatown, Johannesburg, said he was a long-term subcontractor to Jafta Komane, of Milta Contruction, and had never encountered a payment problem.
“He subcontracted me and completed work for Prasa, Transnet and individuals without any hassles,” Mashambe said.
He said his company, Fleet Glass and Aluminium, was asked to do an urgent job at 20 Newmont Road, Selcourt in Springs, on the East Rand.
He was told the client, a Mr Ramatsitsi, a quantity surveyor, needed to move in before November 2014.
“I did what I was contracted to do, but then there were so many changes requested by the client, which delayed the project until the client took occupation on April 22 2017,” Mashambe said.
He said his business suffered and he lost 14 employees as he could not pay them.
“My business took a serious knock. My plans were messed up, causing me to minimise [projects] for the sake of survival,” said Mashambe.
He said Komane owes him more than R100 000 but Milta Construction’s Komane said he had not been paid.
Paul Kgole, of Delta Consulting, the company hired by Ramatsitsi to oversee construction, confirmed the nonpayment. Kgole said the payment due to Komane and Milta Construction was R1.6-million. An e-mail Komane forwarded to Consumer Line showed a breakdown of the monies owed to him.
But Sherman Chiswo, also of Delta Consulting, said Komane had been paid for the work done by Mashambe.
The subcontractor is a direct responsibility of Milta Construction, said Chiswo.
“By now you will have received an email confirmation from the quantity surveyor with a payment breakdown clearly indicating that Milta was paid in full for the aluminium windows and frames at the end of February 2016.
“This was in spite of the fact that some aluminium frames were never delivered by Milta, until Milta opted for a deduction of monies as an offset for the short supply,” said Chiswo.
He said it was unfortunate that Milta seemed not to be in a position to manage the issue in a proper and contractual manner
‘‘ [Building company] was paid in full for the aluminium windows, frames
expected of a contractor.
“We believe that the Construction Industry Development Board would not condone such practices. We request that Milta addresses this issue comprehensively to avoid unnecessary contractual issues that may arise out of the lack of observance of the privity of contract,” Chiswo said.
Ramatsitsi, who refused to give his first name, did not want to confirm nor deny that he had paid Komane. He said he was not involved in their negotiations and not party to the subcontracting agreement.
“You are doing a wonderful job by helping exploited subcontractors, but it would not be fair to comment on this matter.”
Ramatsitsi later called Consumer Line to say he had made the payment and would provide proof. At the time of going to print, this had not been done.