Breidbach housing tender under fire

HUMAN settlements MEC Helen Sauls-August has been asked to explain why she hired a company whose directors had been placed under sequestration.

DCI Holdings, a Western Capebased company, was awarded a tender to build houses on 163 plots in Breidbach, DA MPL Sanele Magaqa said.

He said records revealed that the company was removed from a housing project in Lesseyton outside Komani by the human settlements department because of poor performance and non-compliance with the project implementation plan.

In her written reply to Magaqa’s questions this week, the MEC said: “[The contract with DCI Holdings was] terminated on August 5 2015 due to poor performance and non-compliance with the project implementation plan.”

Magaqa said the need for houses for the people of Breidbach had led to violent protests.

“Sauls-August must clarify why a housing project for Breidbach was awarded to a company whose directors had been placed under sequestration. This community has been crying for houses for years.”

Magaqa questioned how DCI won the tender in the first place.

“The MEC’s response elaborates that part of the criteria for determining a successful company is good administration and financial management,” he said.

“However, Government Gazette No 40604 shows that the directors of DCI Holdings, trading as Daku Group, were placed under sequestration on November 2 2015 and the order was made final on August 15 2016.”

Yet, during this time, Magaqa said, DCI Holdings was appointed as the contractor in the Lesseyton and Ntsongeni housing projects in Komani.

Magaqa said the DA also demanded “clarity” from the department as to why it continued to give contracts to DCI Holdings despite having removed it from a previous project.

Magaqa said he had written to Sauls-August about why DCI Holdings was favoured ahead of other companies.

In her written question, DA MPL Vicky Knoetze asked Sauls-August to make available original documents of all tender applicants in the Breidbach housing saga, but Sauls-August refused, saying the DA would have to use the Public Access to Information Act to get it from her because there was information in the documents pertaining to third parties.

Department of human settlements spokeswoman Phiwokuhle Soga had not responded to e-mailed questions at the time of writing. —