MAKHADO (LOUIS TRICHARDT) – A “Bad List” with the names of individual contractors who lack competence and waste millions of rands of the taxpayers’ money has become an absolute necessity to help curb corruption and mismanagement.

The Democratic Alliance called urgently for such a “Bad List” this week, following continuous problems with contractors who get tenders and then either fail to perform or deliver poor quality work. The projects in question invariably cost millions of rands which inevitably come from overburdened taxpayers’ pockets.

One project causing huge concern is the rehabilitation of the Makhado/Madombidzha road.

“It is clearly unacceptable that a road break up so soon after it was supposed to be rebuilt and repaired,” reads a DA press statement.

The tender for this road was awarded to Ipopo Business Services. The road has not yet been delivered to the client, RAL (Road Agency Limpopo), but already shows signs of disintegration. Laboratory tests showed that the compaction of the subbase layer was incorrect. Although the chief executive officer of RAL, Mr Bohani Shibambu, said that the estimated completion date could be end of October, there are no signs of any construction on the road in question at the moment.

The DA demanded investigation into the tender process of the RAL. The tender was awarded to Ipopo Business Services even though Ipopo scored 3.6 % for relevant experience and 0% for financial status. The quality of their work and references given by past engineering consultants containing many complaints were also ignored.

“A Bad List is now necessary to rid the system of individuals who form companies that are there for self-enrichment and show little interest in their projects. Black empowerment means that previously disadvantaged individuals become empowered with knowledge and experience to eventually do a job just as well as established companies. It does not mean self-enrichment while subcontracting whole projects,” said DA Councillor Marie Helm.

Ipopo Business Services is owned by Ms Wilhelminah Chosi (born in 1978) and managed by Mr Samson (SR) Baloyi, a councillor in the Makhado Municipal Council. The whole contract of the Makhado/Madombidzha Road was subcontracted to Thiko Civils although the General Conditions of Contract for Road and Bridge Works for State Road Authorities, Clause 8(1) clearly state that the contractor shall not subcontract the whole of the contract.

In the meantime, the contracts for the electrification of the Tshirululuni and Ha Mabidi villages, which were awarded in 2002 but never performed, also seem to hang like a cloud over the same contractor. Ipopo Business Services were involved in these tenders. According to Council documentation, the termination of the contract agreement was proposed, followed by the appointment of another contractor.

Some of the reasons given include the poor performance of the contractor. It is stated that: “The performance of the contractor in both projects is very poor and impacts badly on service delivery for which council is accountable to the MEC for Local Government and Housing. The Municipality will be assessed in the annual reports to Parliament for poor service delivery.”

Another reason was failure of the contractor to attend scheduled site meetings.

“The contractor failed to attend scheduled site meetings and progress cannot be discussed as no responsible person is available on site or a site camp for material or basic equipment for the projects.”

According to the documentation, Cllr Baloyi did not declare his vested interest, meaning he did not declare his involvement in the firm that received the contract, neither in writing, nor when the tender reports were considered by the Council or its committees.

The proposal of the “Bad List” of contractors who fail to perform includes the publishing of the names of individuals, because anyone can form a new company with a new name.