THE Sekhukhune District Municipality may have to overspend on their R9 million budget for a toilet project in the Zaaiplaas area located in the Elias Motsoaledi municipal area after the original contractor allegedly abandoned the project after only 30% of the project was completed.
While the DA says the contractor was already paid the full R9 million, the municipality refuted this, saying the contractor was paid some R6 million of the R9 million for the 30% of the project completed. The project started in November last year and was abandoned in March.
DA ward councillor, Lucas Tala, said only 1 335 of the 2 457 planned toilets had been completed and some of the completed toilet stalls had already started to crack. He also expressed his concern over children allowed to play in the excavations of the unbuilt toilets.
“This project left more than 150 local workers stranded without income,” Tala added.
He said Sekhukhune mayor, David Magabe, should resolve the matter urgently and said if Magabe did not address the problem, the DA would ask the Public Protector to investigate.
Spokesperson for the Elias Motsoaledi Municipality, Mbusi Mahlangu, referred all media enquiries to the Sekhukhune District Municipality.
Sekhukhune District Municipality spokesperson, Willy Mosoma, said the original contractor had been paid for work done and not “one cent more”.
“He said the contractor had been blacklisted, and the municipality appointed a new contractor to complete the project. Even though 70% of the project still had to be done, Mosoma said the new contractor would complete the contract for the remaining R3 million as budgeted.
“We will continue to monitor all projects and where contractors are not performing, they will be terminated with immediate effect,” Mosoma said.
