MBOMBELA – Following intense and ongoing engagement with contractors over the past months, the department of human settlements has sealed a ground-breaking agreement with its contractors with a set of radical measures, aimed at improving efficiency and accountability.
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This was agreed to at a meeting convened by the department in Mbombela on Wednesday.
Speaking at the meeting, MEC Speedy Mashilo stressed out that contractors must ensure that they meet their set targets to fulfill the agreement they have with the department, and if not, they must expect to be struck off the roll.
He maintained that contractors must be given work that they can be able to deliver on. “All contractors should be assessed and then the units be re-allocated to contractors that can deliver,” said Mashilo.
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He, however, continued to leave no stone unturned on contractors who were allegedly offering bribes to unsuspecting employees who were dealing directly with the management of projects.
He said, “We will develop a proper policy with regard to sub-contractors in the department with a set of procedures that will bring transparency, openness and visibility to the project management environment and support the fight against corruption, bribery and dishonesty.”
These allegations come shortly after the department realized that some of its contractors were not able to deliver their work on time according to the agreement they had signed with the department.
The head of department, Mr Kebone Masange told the meeting that the department is not operating in a private sector, thus it determines the plan.
“If a contractor cannot deliver, the Department will simply take the business elsewhere. If the area has rocks, geo-tech is applied,” concluded Masange.
