Staff reporter
Bloemfontein – Hardly months after the dissolution of Ngwathe Local Municipality following a damning court judgment, the municipality is on the verge of water shedding.
This is after a contractor threatened to switch off all 41 boreholes in Vredefort and Parys over a payment dispute.
WATCH
An employee of Basieng Construction, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they are owed money.
“We are owed by the municipality, and it all started in 2021 with 23 boreholes in Vredefort. We were asked to assist Parys, and that’s when we erected 18 boreholes.
To date, we are still waiting to be paid, and even the Deputy Minister is aware but his attempts are falling on deaf ears.”
According to sources with intimate knowledge of the matter, the dispute over the R40 million payment is due to “R14 million bribery”.
“Almost, if not everyone doing business in Ngwathe pays to get the job first and pays to be paid. It’s normalised.
There is a R14 million bounty to be paid; otherwise, they won’t be paid.”
In November 2024, the municipality claimed success over water availability and that availability was due to water from boreholes erected by Basieng Construction.
Dr Patrick Mothamaha, Municipal Manager said the municipality cannot process payments despite him and De Beer posing for cameras for the same work.
“Ngwathe Local Municipality strictly operates within the legislative parameters of the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003 (MFMA) and the Supply Chain Management (SCM) Regulations.
The municipality cannot, process payments for work, infrastructure, or services that have not followed lawfully advertised procurement procedures, competitive bidding, or formal contractual agreements (Service Level Agreements). Unlawful payment requests without statutory procurement backing constitute financial misconduct under the MFMA.
On Erection of Boreholes in Parys and Vredefort:
Basieng Construction did erect boreholes on municipal land, however any unauthorized construction on municipal land executed outside statutory SCM processes does not automatically create an enforceable municipal debt or obligation.”
Presented with pictures and footage of work done with Victoria De Beer and himself captured in them as testimony that they knew about the erection of boreholes and pressed to respond directly to questions asked Dr Mothamaha changed the tune and said the legal teams from municipality and Basieng Construction will meet today.
“The municipality is aware that Basieng Construction erected and resuscitated boreholes hence they are to be quantified by the technical department working together with Basieng and hydrogeologists from the DWS, and advice accordingly.
Municipal legal teams and Basieng Construction legal team will meet tomorrow to discuss other important matters.”
About allegations of R14 million bribery Dr Mothamaha said such shoukd be brought to his attention.
“If Basieng has evidence on corruption or official misconduct, they should know that it should have been submitted to the Accounting Officer.”
We are working on a different story about a family that lost R3.5 million after being promised a R20 million contract and we will share proof with Dr Mothamaha and watch if he will do anything.
Robert Madie in 2024 lofted the lid and it’s funny how that was also linked to a water project though in Fezile Dabi.
This is Ngwathe, it is now under administration and with elections few weeks away, the ANC might say goodbye to it!
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