Confusion over toilet project at Lindani Primary School
Workers hired to build ablution block at Lindani Primary School are enraged that they have not been paid for the past three months.
Labourers of whom some are school parents, allege that the contractor, Molisa Project, hardly delivers building material and does not even check on progress.
“The project started four months ago, but still no difference has been made.
Holes were made, but now work is sluggish,” they said. Patrick Mndawe, a transport owner who supplied the contractor with sand, alleged that he used his own money to deliver the sand, but now cannot pay his drivers because he has not been paid.
Read: ‘Completed’ toilets at school do not exist, yet
“How can the contractor use up all the money without the project being completed?” Mndawe asked. A representative of Molisa Project, known only as Morris, told Lowvelder Express that they have not received payments from the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport (DPWRT). “The department has not paid us for two months. We are busy engaging it on this matter,” he said.
Also read: Poor ablution facilities are ‘hazardous and unbearable’
However, DPWRT said it does not owe the contractor and had paid him R342 653,99. Bongani Cyril Dlamini, spokesperson for the department, said it was aware of the slow pace of the project and, as a result, had served the contractor with a default letter in September to remedy the situation with immediate effect.
“The project was expected to be completed by October 2, however, due to unforeseen delays including community disruptions, the schedule had to be revised to the end of October. Thus far DPWRT has paid an amount of R342 653,99 in relation to the percentage of work done as per the contractual obligation,” concluded Dlamini.
