Major discrepancies have emerged in funding details relating to a controversial toilet contract given to a business with links to senior ANC leaders.
Close inspection of press statements, transcribed interviews and government documents reveal that millions started flowing out of Amathole District Municipality (ADM) at least three months before the mega-deal had even been approved.
Two weeks ago the Saturday Dispatch reported that Siyenza Group, the entity hand-picked for the tender, had been paid in excess of R60-million.
Today we can reveal that was only one transaction. The exact amount paid to this group so far is R114-million. The money was paid over in several tranches. The project, to erect 66000 rural toilets, is worth R631-million.
The first payment of R31-million was made in September last year. In December, Siyenza Group was paid R63-million and R19-million was paid at the end of January this year.
This detail emerged in a response from MEC for cooperative governance Fikile Xasa on Wednesday.
He was responding to a parliamentary question posed by DA MPL Nokonwaba Matikinca.
Matikinca asked the question following her visit to the villages that are meant to benefit from this project. “My visits to the municipalities in ADM have shown that despite the latest flurry of delivery of toilet building material, very few have actually been built,” she said.
Following further investigations, the Saturday Dispatch has discovered the following inconsistencies:
lADM paid Siyenza Group – out of its own coffers – more than R90-million (R31-million in September and R61-million in December) as funding from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) was only disbursed in January. “The loan agreement between DBSA and ADM was concluded on November 18 last year. An amount of R286-million was disbursed in January,” DBSA spokeswoman Nonnie Letsholo said;
lThe R94-million was paid to Siyenza Group months before it even erected its first toilet. ADM municipal manager Chris Magwangqana, two weeks ago, told a national radio station that Siyenza Group only started with real construction in January as the building industry had closed around December 15 last year;
lSiyenza Group was introduced to service providers and stakeholders three months before the deal was signed in November. Both DBSA and the ADM have admitted that the deal was signed on November 18.
But the Saturday Dispatch has learnt that Siyenza had already been introduced to suppliers and other stakeholders as an implementing agent as far back as September. This happened during a meeting held in East London on September 17.
A copy of the attendance register of the meeting to introduce Siyenza Group lists, among others, ADM chief financial officer Nathi Soga and Mpumelelo Shezi, the municipality’s director of engineering. Siyenza Group CEO Bongani Mpeluza did not attend but was represented by his partners Vuyani Gaga and Enoch Sithole.
No one has been able to explain any of these discrepancies.
A number of questions have since arisen, including why Siyenza Group attended the September 17 meeting, when according to Magwangqana’s radio interview, Siyenza Group was only appointed in November.
Another question is why Siyenza Group was paid R31-million in September if it only signed the contract in November.
Other unanswered questions are on whose instruction payments were made and whether the council was aware.
The municipality had not answered questions put to it this week.
Magwangqana, on Thursday, promised the Saturday Dispatch a sit-down interview.
Yesterday he would not take or return our calls.
Questions sent to his communications team had not been answered at the time of writing.
Mpeluza yesterday denied that they were paid R31-million in September. “I really do not know the money they claim they gave us in September. I will have to check that but I do not think that is a correct date because we were appointed in November. I’m really surprised to hear this,” he said.
In the Bhisho Legislature this week, Xasa was under fire from opposition MPLs, who accused him of attempting to shield the municipality. He told the legislature that since a payment of R114-million was made to Siyenza Group, to date 12533 toilets had been completed and that the municipality would be processing further claims to be paid in coming weeks.
His answer contradicts ANC MP Jackson Mthembu, who told the National Assembly only a week ago that 20000 toilets were on the ground. The figures also contradict Mpeluza’s own, which he gave during an interview with the Saturday Dispatch two weeks ago.
He claimed to have erected 5000 toilets.
Industry experts this week also disputed the figures, saying it was impossible for the company to move from 5000 to 20000 toilets in less than two weeks. — siphem@ dispatchlive.co.za/
Gaping holes in dodgy toilet deal
Close inspection of press statements, transcribed interviews and government documents reveal that millions started flowing out of Amathole District Municipality (ADM) at least three months before the mega-deal had even been approved.
Two weeks ago the Saturday Dispatch reported that Siyenza Group, the entity hand-picked for the tender, had been paid in excess of R60-million.
Today we can reveal that was only one transaction. The exact amount paid to this group so far is R114-million. The money was paid over in several tranches. The project, to erect 66000 rural toilets, is worth R631-million.
The first payment of R31-million was made in September last year. In December, Siyenza Group was paid R63-million and R19-million was paid at the end of January this year.
This detail emerged in a response from MEC for cooperative governance Fikile Xasa on Wednesday.
He was responding to a parliamentary question posed by DA MPL Nokonwaba Matikinca.
Matikinca asked the question following her visit to the villages that are meant to benefit from this project. “My visits to the municipalities in ADM have shown that despite the latest flurry of delivery of toilet building material, very few have actually been built,” she said.
Following further investigations, the Saturday Dispatch has discovered the following inconsistencies:
lADM paid Siyenza Group – out of its own coffers – more than R90-million (R31-million in September and R61-million in December) as funding from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) was only disbursed in January. “The loan agreement between DBSA and ADM was concluded on November 18 last year. An amount of R286-million was disbursed in January,” DBSA spokeswoman Nonnie Letsholo said;
lThe R94-million was paid to Siyenza Group months before it even erected its first toilet. ADM municipal manager Chris Magwangqana, two weeks ago, told a national radio station that Siyenza Group only started with real construction in January as the building industry had closed around December 15 last year;
lSiyenza Group was introduced to service providers and stakeholders three months before the deal was signed in November. Both DBSA and the ADM have admitted that the deal was signed on November 18.
But the Saturday Dispatch has learnt that Siyenza had already been introduced to suppliers and other stakeholders as an implementing agent as far back as September. This happened during a meeting held in East London on September 17.
A copy of the attendance register of the meeting to introduce Siyenza Group lists, among others, ADM chief financial officer Nathi Soga and Mpumelelo Shezi, the municipality’s director of engineering. Siyenza Group CEO Bongani Mpeluza did not attend but was represented by his partners Vuyani Gaga and Enoch Sithole.
No one has been able to explain any of these discrepancies.
A number of questions have since arisen, including why Siyenza Group attended the September 17 meeting, when according to Magwangqana’s radio interview, Siyenza Group was only appointed in November.
Another question is why Siyenza Group was paid R31-million in September if it only signed the contract in November.
Other unanswered questions are on whose instruction payments were made and whether the council was aware.
The municipality had not answered questions put to it this week.
Magwangqana, on Thursday, promised the Saturday Dispatch a sit-down interview.
Yesterday he would not take or return our calls.
Questions sent to his communications team had not been answered at the time of writing.
Mpeluza yesterday denied that they were paid R31-million in September. “I really do not know the money they claim they gave us in September. I will have to check that but I do not think that is a correct date because we were appointed in November. I’m really surprised to hear this,” he said.
In the Bhisho Legislature this week, Xasa was under fire from opposition MPLs, who accused him of attempting to shield the municipality. He told the legislature that since a payment of R114-million was made to Siyenza Group, to date 12533 toilets had been completed and that the municipality would be processing further claims to be paid in coming weeks.
His answer contradicts ANC MP Jackson Mthembu, who told the National Assembly only a week ago that 20000 toilets were on the ground. The figures also contradict Mpeluza’s own, which he gave during an interview with the Saturday Dispatch two weeks ago.
He claimed to have erected 5000 toilets.
Industry experts this week also disputed the figures, saying it was impossible for the company to move from 5000 to 20000 toilets in less than two weeks. — siphem@ dispatchlive.co.za/
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos