‘No point in North West probe’: Allegations of favouritism surface

The North West province’s MEC for public works and roads, Gaoage Molapisi, has ordered internal investigations after the recent appointment of a contractor in a R134-million tender, despite its previous contracts being terminated by the same provincial departments for poor workmanship.

Molapisi has directed an instruction to the head of department, Moss Kgantsi, that an internal inquiry be conducted and concluded by tomorrow.

“The appointment of the contractor perpetuates a wrong narrative about the department, which we have been working very hard to change,” Molapisi said.

But a well-placed source in the department said Molapisi and the owner of Ndhuna, Oberon Sungulani Matsuvuki, were close friends from their students days at Technikon Northern Gauteng, Technikon North West, and Technikon Pretoria (TNT), which is now the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT).

“I know this boy (Matsuvuki), he was behind me at TNT. He was very pompous. He is linked to Molapisi from our time at TNT. He’s not going to investigate anything, they are big buddies,” said the source.

When asked about his friendship with the Ndhuna owner, Molapisi did not respond. Ndhuna Civil Engineering Services abandoned two incomplete roads in Rustenburg and Brits in 2021, after receiving a R25-million payment.

The department terminated the contract citing poor workmanship from the contractor and allegations of inflated invoices and claimed money for work that was never done.

The department said Ndhuna had failed to complete a road between Hebron to Letlhabile and Segwaelane to Wonderkop in 2021.

It alleged noncompliance as a result of cash-flow challenges, as well as alleged community disruptions. The same department awarded another multimillion-rand tender to the company in December last year, to upgrade gravel roads to tar in Khunotswane, Zeerust.

The provincial spokesperson for public works and roads, Matshube Mfoloe, defended the move.

He claimed there was no reason not to appoint a company that had failed to deliver on its previous projects “There is absolutely no legal ground to deny such company an opportunity to try its luck in doing business with the department because, on paper, the company meets all the required criteria.”

He said the department did not finalise the termination process legally and blacklist the company from doing business with it in future as a reason for the controversial appointment.

The Democratic Alliance’s Freddy Sonakile wrote to Molapisi this week to request clarity and tender documents.

He said it was worrying that the contractor would be fired, then later hired by the same department.

“We have urged this department to place contractors on a blacklist if they fail to uphold their contractual obligations,” he said.