Pretoria - The termination of a multimillion-rand contract related to the refurbishment of the Rooiwal WasteWater Treatment Works has exonerated ActionSA’s stance that the contract was awarded illegally.
This is according to the party’s provincial leader, Bongani Baloyi, who reacted to the City of Tshwane’s sacking of a contractor appointed in October 2019 to upgrade the plant as part of phase 1 of the project.
The party has questioned the appointment of a joint venture of companies owned by Edwin Sodi for lacking the requisite skills for the Rooiwal contract.
In a media statement, Baloyi said the termination of the contract was “long-awaited and overdue”.
“ActionSA has long held that the contract entered into by the city was patently illegal, and its termination is a vindication of our position, and we will bring this to the attention of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), which is currently investigating tender irregularities at the Rooiwal.”
“ActionSA reiterated the findings of a commission of inquiry into the Hammanskraal water crisis conducted in 2020, which demonstrated “the illegality of the award of the contract”.
The report was handed to mayor Randall Williams in August 2021 and to the SIU on July 22, 2022.
The report showed that the contract amounting to R295 million was awarded to a joint venture, with both companies owned by Sodi, and that the companies in the joint venture did not possess any experience in the kind of project.
Baloyi said: “The City of Tshwane paid R1m upfront to float the costs of site establishment. The joint venture, in contravention of the supply chain policies of the City of Tshwane, had to be ceded R71m upfront because it lacked the resources for the initial capital outlay.”
Utility Services MMC Daryl Johnston said the metro terminated a contract of the joint venture of CMS Water Projects and NJR Projects, which was appointed for the phase 1 construction in October 2019 at a value of R253m.
“Our most immediate steps will be to terminate the contract and to initiate legal action against the joint venture to reclaim about R29m in terms of the non-performance clauses of the contract. We’ll also go to market to ensure that the remaining work at the plant is completed,” he said.
Upon completion, the upgrade of Rooiwal will bring much relief to residents of Hammanskraal and surrounding areas who for years have had to drink contaminated water.
Pretoria News