Contract between Setheo and City Power cancelled amid tender fraud allegations

A Johannesburg-based engineering firm has again denied any wrongdoing after allegations of tender fraud and corruption dating back to 2017 resurfaced this week when one of the firm’s employees was arrested.

Setheo Engineering’s project manager, Brighton Chisamba, made a brief appearance before the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Palm Ridge on Monday on graft charges relating to a R126 million contract the firm was awarded by City Power in 2015, to build a new substation in Eldorado Park.

The state alleges Setheo secured the contract with a fraudulent bank guarantee and says the firm even ended up being fronted R66 million for the project, but that there was no work done. The case first came to the fore in 2017, when Setheo directors Tinashe Mangwana and Namathemba Precious Ncube were arrested.

Their case was subsequently withdrawn. Mangwana was adamant there was no wrongdoing on the firm’s behalf and said it had, in fact, been ahead of deadline on the Eldorado Park substation. He also said Setheo had procured more than R40 million worth of equipment for the project and this was still on site.

Setheo was currently embroiled in litigation with the city over various nonpayment issues. The firm was being used as a political pawn and persecuted unfairly, Mangwana claimed.

“We’re not political, we’re just a company,” he said. Mangwane said the city had never engaged the firm directly over issues around nonperformance and questioned why Chisamba had been targeted.

“He’s not even a high-ranking employee,” he said.

In addition to the fraud and corruption charges, Chisamba is also facing charges of money laundering and theft. His case was postponed to Monday for a bail application and Chisamba was remanded in custody.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the contract between Setheo and the utility had now been cancelled and his offices were in the process of finalising the Eldorado Park substation project.

– bernadettew@citizen.co.za

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