Controversial Eastern Cape stadium orignally cost R4.5m – report

Eastern Cape

Cape Town — The Eastern Cape Department of Cooperative and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) released a report which found that the controversial Lesseyton Sportsfield was only meant to cost R4.5 million.

COGTA MEC, Zolile Williams, tabled the findings of the report to the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality and found that the original tender in 2019 for R20 million was irregular.

Part of the findings found that the contractor escalated prices during the project without following the tender process and work continued despite the tender being cancelled, SABC News reported.

The department said it would not tolerate any form of corruption from municipalities.

“The investigations found that the people in the corruption fraud and misrepresentation were able to change the scopes of work without following due processes to this end the recommendation of reports says all the people who were involved in the corruption must be prosecuted by the NPA without delay.”

Eastern Coe COGTA spokesperson, Pheello Oliphant, revealed that the company that received the contract, Thalami Civils, received the tender despite scoring 4th in the bidding process, The Citizen reported.

“Four companies were shortlisted and out of the shortlisted companies, the one that scored the lowest points was the one that was appointed, overlooking the [other] companies,” he said.

Oliphant added that the project was only meant to cost R4.5 million, nearly a fifth of the R20 million total costs of the final project, due to the “time extension” of the project.

He said the report recommended that all Enoch Mgijima municipal officials who were behind the project, should be prosecuted and any official who still works for the community, should face disciplinary hearings.

“Some of them are still employed, [while] others have since left and joined other municipalities. However, the National Prosecuting Authority [NPA] as well as the police are on their footsteps and court processes will follow in due course.”

He said the department wanted to recover the entire R20 million of the project because it was a fruitless and wasteful expenditure in terms of the MFMA [Municipal Finance Management Act].

He encouraged the municipality to act and approach the courts to have the contract reviewed and set aside. He also said the municipality should report the alleged criminal conduct of two former officials, Chris Magwangqana and Nokuthula Zondani, to the police.

The sports field made headlines following its unveiling in October 2021 due to the hefty price tag, which at the time was reported to be R15 million.

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Compiled by Matthew Petersen

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