A grandstand seat at Komani’s R15m stadium of shame
Municipal officials manipulated bidding scores — investigators
The tender was rigged.
That’s the broad allegation contained in a preliminary forensic report on a poorly constructed sports field for which the Enoch Mgijima local municipality in the Eastern Cape paid R15m.
The report, commissioned by the Eastern Cape provincial government, was compiled by East London law firm Wesley Pretorius & Associates, which investigated how the Lesseyton sports field near Komani (formerly Queenstown) came to be built. The stadium was unveiled to much fanfare before last year’s local government elections.
The report throws fresh light on how officials from the Enoch Mgijima Municipality rigged internal processes to irregularly appoint contractor Thalami Civils to the sports field contract.
It said municipal officials manipulated bidding scores to benefit the winning company, Pretoria-based Thalami Civils, allegedly fraudulently inflating its functionality score by 10 points after the scoring had been concluded.
“This is significant given that the tender was purportedly awarded to Thalami Civils because it outscored other bidders in respect of functionality, which would not have been the case if its total score for functionality had not been altered to 80,” the investigators said in a preliminary report to the administrator of the municipality.
But despite this manipulation, the company was still only the fourth-highest bidder after its price and broad-based BEE scores were considered, and officials again allegedly manipulated the numbers to ensure the company won the tender.
The Lesseyton sports field gained national notoriety last October after its unveiling was posted on social media and users immediately began questioning whether its R15m price tag constituted value for money.
Many questioned how an unkempt patch of grass with white markings to signify a field and athletics track, one small building with no electricity or running water and a ramshackle metal and wood stand for spectators could possibly cost R15m. Shortly after the opening, the stadium’s rugby poles started collapsing.
Political leaders, including One SA Movement leader Mmusi Maimane and DA federal council chair Helen Zille, weighed in on the scandal. Maimane described the precinct as a chicken stand, saying it represented a “new low” for the country, while Zille said the project was just another “get-rich-quick scheme” for ANC cadres.
During a visit to assess the field, Eastern Cape co-operative governance & traditional affairs MEC Xolile Nqatha labelled it a “crime scene” and vowed that his department would look into the tender. The EFF in the
Maimane described the precinct as a chicken stand, saying it represented a ‘new low’ for the country
province opened a criminal case, which was later transferred to the Hawks.
It has emerged that Thalami Civils was as controversial as the sports field after more examples of overpriced projects in some of the province’s poorest municipalities came to light. It was also reported that Thalami’s sole director, Luthando Jojwana, was once arrested in Mnquma local municipality for allegedly stealing bricks from another council
project to use in his own projects nearby.
Jojwana told the Sunday Times on Friday he was not aware of any forensic or criminal investigation into the contract or his work.
“The only people who have been contacting me is the media, there have been no complaints from the municipality,” he said.
“I stand by my work on that project and insist there is nothing untoward. I have no knowledge of anything that happened inside the municipality and I did not coerce anyone to advantage me.”
However, the report found that the advantaging of his company extended to the second phase of tender evaluation, and officials in the council’s bid adjudication committee supported it. They allegedly also said the company that had scored the most points could not be given the contract because it had recently been awarded another contract.
The investigators found this unlawful and in contravention of the municipality’s policy.
Wesley Pretorius & Associates also found that all bid committees had been improperly constituted and there were no documents showing the actual process to appoint them, that the contract was not advertised on the National Treasury’s tender portal as required by law, and that the tender specifications advertised and evaluated were materially different from those approved by the bid specifications committee.
Because of this, the investigators said, the municipality should go to court to have the contract reviewed and set aside. They further recommended that the municipality declare the R15m as irregular expenditure and that the accounting officer recover this money from the officials responsible.
DA constituency leader Jane Cowley said
they felt vindicated by the report after being the first to raise the alarm. She said the council had spent the money on a “so-called stadium
while residents in Lesseyton have to scoop drinking and cooking water from a tiny stream which they share with their livestock because the taps in their village are all broken”.
She added: “The investigation process into the Lesseyton sports stadium debacle will continue and the final report will make recommendations pertaining to punitive measures and possible criminal charges.”
Hawks Eastern Cape spokesperson Capt Yolisa Mgolodela said the investigation into the matter was at an “advanced stage”.
“The stakeholders viz. Treasury [and the] public protector are meeting with the Hawks to pave a way forward of their expectations from the quantity surveyors who will be visiting the site [stadium] soon,” she said.