THE roads agency that brought South Africa e-tolls has been listed as scoring R16-million from an Eastern Cape municipality to fix a tiny patch of road.
According to Sanral, the work they did in Mthatha in the run-up to Nelson Mandela’s state funeral would amount to about R1.5-million, but they have yet to submit a bill.
Sanral project manager Renaldo Lorio explained that before Mandela’s funeral a whole spate of preparations were set in motion and the King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) municipality was asked to neaten up in and around Mthatha.
“This included fixing up the R61, Timber Avenue, Errol Sprigg, Industrial Road, York Street and Delville Road.
“At the time KSD requested assistance from Sanral. Not having had an opportunity to properly quantify the work, a figure of R16-million was quoted.”
This is not the first controversy linked to Mandela’s funeral after the Saturday Dispatch exposed how Buffalo City Municipality doled out R5.9-million – meant for transportation to memorial services – to politically connected individuals.
Lorio further explained the extensive and continuous rainfall in the week leading up to Mandela’s funeral meant only short-term pothole filling, road marking, cleaning and grass cutting was carried out.
“The cost of this amounted to about R1.5-million.
“Sanral has not submitted an invoice to KSD yet as the administration has yet to be finalised. As a result, Sanral has not received any money from KSD yet,” he said in an e-mail.
This begs the question as to where the money went.
According to council documents in the possession of the Saturday Dispatch, there are order numbers for two payments to Sanral of R8-million each, dated December 9 2013.
The council documents record that the amounts paid to Sanral were for “emergency street repair” in the Mthatha CBD.
However in the days of rain leading up to the state funeral the only resurfacing carried out in the Mthatha CBD was to an area on the corner of York Road and Sutherland Street.
The Saturday Dispatch took a picture of construction workers fixing the road at the time. A civil engineer who saw the photograph estimated the cost of repairs to be about R173000.
According to local government superintendent general Stanley Khanyile it is highly unlikely R16-million would have been paid to Sanral for work in the city centre.
He said he would dispatch a team to the KSD to investigate the expenditure.
“Legislation and policies are very clear in terms of which authority is responsible for what type of road. The local authority is responsible for resurfacing and revamping of its roads.
“The fact that something may be regarded as urgent does not mean normal supply chain and relevant legislation may not be adhered to. We will certainly follow up this matter.”
KSD spokesman Sonwabo Mampoza said the municipality had used the funds for road repair.
KSD ANC sub-regional chairman and council speaker Dumani Zozo said: “We have always urged the municipality to prioritise the streets in the CBD. It is their to repair the streets in town and other streets such as Delville Road.
“We do not know if this money has been paid to this company (Sanral) for this work, if so the council will have to look at it.”
Local businessman Andile Nontso said it would cost about R5-million to repair one kilometre of a medium tarred road.
“It is highly unlikely such huge amounts of money were paid for work done in the CBD. I know one portion of the road that was fixed a few days before the funeral. The main thing done was the cleaning of streets and fixing of potholes here and there.”
Mayor Nonkoliso Ngqongwa said she was in a meeting when contacted. Council speaker Dumani Zozo’s phone was off all day. — abongilem@dispatch.co.za
R16m for this?
According to Sanral, the work they did in Mthatha in the run-up to Nelson Mandela’s state funeral would amount to about R1.5-million, but they have yet to submit a bill.
Sanral project manager Renaldo Lorio explained that before Mandela’s funeral a whole spate of preparations were set in motion and the King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) municipality was asked to neaten up in and around Mthatha.
“This included fixing up the R61, Timber Avenue, Errol Sprigg, Industrial Road, York Street and Delville Road.
“At the time KSD requested assistance from Sanral. Not having had an opportunity to properly quantify the work, a figure of R16-million was quoted.”
This is not the first controversy linked to Mandela’s funeral after the Saturday Dispatch exposed how Buffalo City Municipality doled out R5.9-million – meant for transportation to memorial services – to politically connected individuals.
Lorio further explained the extensive and continuous rainfall in the week leading up to Mandela’s funeral meant only short-term pothole filling, road marking, cleaning and grass cutting was carried out.
“The cost of this amounted to about R1.5-million.
“Sanral has not submitted an invoice to KSD yet as the administration has yet to be finalised. As a result, Sanral has not received any money from KSD yet,” he said in an e-mail.
This begs the question as to where the money went.
According to council documents in the possession of the Saturday Dispatch, there are order numbers for two payments to Sanral of R8-million each, dated December 9 2013.
The council documents record that the amounts paid to Sanral were for “emergency street repair” in the Mthatha CBD.
However in the days of rain leading up to the state funeral the only resurfacing carried out in the Mthatha CBD was to an area on the corner of York Road and Sutherland Street.
The Saturday Dispatch took a picture of construction workers fixing the road at the time. A civil engineer who saw the photograph estimated the cost of repairs to be about R173000.
According to local government superintendent general Stanley Khanyile it is highly unlikely R16-million would have been paid to Sanral for work in the city centre.
He said he would dispatch a team to the KSD to investigate the expenditure.
“Legislation and policies are very clear in terms of which authority is responsible for what type of road. The local authority is responsible for resurfacing and revamping of its roads.
“The fact that something may be regarded as urgent does not mean normal supply chain and relevant legislation may not be adhered to. We will certainly follow up this matter.”
KSD spokesman Sonwabo Mampoza said the municipality had used the funds for road repair.
KSD ANC sub-regional chairman and council speaker Dumani Zozo said: “We have always urged the municipality to prioritise the streets in the CBD. It is their to repair the streets in town and other streets such as Delville Road.
“We do not know if this money has been paid to this company (Sanral) for this work, if so the council will have to look at it.”
Local businessman Andile Nontso said it would cost about R5-million to repair one kilometre of a medium tarred road.
“It is highly unlikely such huge amounts of money were paid for work done in the CBD. I know one portion of the road that was fixed a few days before the funeral. The main thing done was the cleaning of streets and fixing of potholes here and there.”
Mayor Nonkoliso Ngqongwa said she was in a meeting when contacted. Council speaker Dumani Zozo’s phone was off all day. — abongilem@dispatch.co.za
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