Minister rounds on those she accuses of stalling flagship R4.5-billion project to house thousands in Cape Town
Minister of defence Lindiwe Sisulu has come out with guns blazing to roundly criticise those she blames for holding up Cape Town’s stalled R4.5-billion N2 Gateway housing project.
Sisulu made the rare move of defending her former portfolio, department of housing, this week when she accused the auditor-general, Terence Nombembe, of failing to provide what she called a balanced audit report on the project.
She also lashed out at the City of Cape Town , and took a swipe at parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) for criticising her former ministry without sufficient knowledge of the project.
Sisulu commissioned the auditor-general’s “value-for-money audit” into the Gateway project following allegations of irregularities in the awarding of a project management tender to Cyberia .
Unhappy with the auditor-general’s report, she asked for a second opinion from a consultancy firm headed by Judge Willem Heath.
Sisulu told the Sunday Times this week that she agreed with Heath, who criticised the auditor-general’s conclusion that millions of rands spent on the project were “fruitless and wasteful”.
This related, in part, to reports that Cyberia had been paid R12-million — after winning a tender for R5-million.
Although Heath did not refute the auditor-general’s findings, he said: “It appears that the auditor-general may not have meticulously and exhaustively investigated the facts, which led him to the conclusion that in some instances, the expenditures were fruitless and wasteful.
“If he had conducted an exhaustive investigation of such expenses, he may have arrived at the conclusion that the three spheres of government may have fallen victim to fraudulent conduct by private sector institutions or that some of the expenses related to necessary testing of policy.”
Controversially, Heath said: “It is however, generally not the legislative function of the auditor-general to investigate fraud and other similar irregularities.”
Sisulu said Heath’s report gave more insight to the project, and she was inclined to agree with it: “It does indicate in detail what processes were wrong and what processes could be improved, and it evaluates the project.”
The Gateway project, intended to upgrade informal settlements on Cape Town’s N2 highway, was launched in 2005 as a national pilot project to fast-track housing delivery.
It aimed to build 23000 low-cost housing units within six months.
Rocked by political tensions between the three spheres of government, allegations of irregularities and a lack of funds, it has so far delivered only 4862 units.
Sisulu lashed out at the Democratic Alliance, which runs the City of Cape Town, for being a “nasty fly in the ointment” for questioning the project’s viability and labelling the houses “expensive”.
“We said, what makes you think that black people, by virtue of being black, would want to live in accommodation that is less than what is required? ” she told the Sunday Times.
Sisulu did not spare Scopa, which has been questioning government officials based on the auditor-general’s report .
“I don’t know if Scopa knows what the auditor-general’s report is about.
“I get a feeling that if they knew, then they might be concentrating on a different outcome.
“What they are finding are the things which we ourselves did find and have tried to correct,” she said.
She cited an investigation she commissioned in 2005 from law firm Cheadle Thompson & Haysom , which found no evidence of “inappropriate behaviour” on Cyberia’s part, although it concluded that the company had no prior expertise in managing projects as large as N2 Gateway.
Cyberia was replaced by Thubelisha Homes, which also struggled to manage the project.
Scopa’s chairman, Themba Godi, demanded in the most recent hearing on the matter, two weeks ago, that action be taken against those involved in “fruitless expenditure”
Department of Human Settlements director-general Itumeleng Kotsoane conceded that the project was mired in political tension between the three spheres of government, who are supposed to co-operate through a steering committee.
He said that Cape Town city officials did not attend meetings of the committee.
- Sunday Times
Minister of defence Lindiwe Sisulu has come out with guns blazing to roundly criticise those she blames for holding up Cape Town’s stalled R4.5-billion N2 Gateway housing project.
Sisulu made the rare move of defending her former portfolio, department of housing, this week when she accused the auditor-general, Terence Nombembe, of failing to provide what she called a balanced audit report on the project.
She also lashed out at the City of Cape Town , and took a swipe at parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) for criticising her former ministry without sufficient knowledge of the project.
Sisulu commissioned the auditor-general’s “value-for-money audit” into the Gateway project following allegations of irregularities in the awarding of a project management tender to Cyberia .
Unhappy with the auditor-general’s report, she asked for a second opinion from a consultancy firm headed by Judge Willem Heath.
Sisulu told the Sunday Times this week that she agreed with Heath, who criticised the auditor-general’s conclusion that millions of rands spent on the project were “fruitless and wasteful”.
This related, in part, to reports that Cyberia had been paid R12-million — after winning a tender for R5-million.
Although Heath did not refute the auditor-general’s findings, he said: “It appears that the auditor-general may not have meticulously and exhaustively investigated the facts, which led him to the conclusion that in some instances, the expenditures were fruitless and wasteful.
“If he had conducted an exhaustive investigation of such expenses, he may have arrived at the conclusion that the three spheres of government may have fallen victim to fraudulent conduct by private sector institutions or that some of the expenses related to necessary testing of policy.”
Controversially, Heath said: “It is however, generally not the legislative function of the auditor-general to investigate fraud and other similar irregularities.”
Sisulu said Heath’s report gave more insight to the project, and she was inclined to agree with it: “It does indicate in detail what processes were wrong and what processes could be improved, and it evaluates the project.”
The Gateway project, intended to upgrade informal settlements on Cape Town’s N2 highway, was launched in 2005 as a national pilot project to fast-track housing delivery.
It aimed to build 23000 low-cost housing units within six months.
Rocked by political tensions between the three spheres of government, allegations of irregularities and a lack of funds, it has so far delivered only 4862 units.
Sisulu lashed out at the Democratic Alliance, which runs the City of Cape Town, for being a “nasty fly in the ointment” for questioning the project’s viability and labelling the houses “expensive”.
“We said, what makes you think that black people, by virtue of being black, would want to live in accommodation that is less than what is required? ” she told the Sunday Times.
The City of Cape Town is a ‘nasty fly in the ointment’ for questioning the N2 Gateway project’s viabilityShe said her frustrations with the stumbling blocks put in the project’s way by the City of Cape Town, including a failure to release land for the project, had turned her to a “vociferous campaigner” for co-operative governance laws that would ensure that provinces and municipalities comply with national government demands.
Sisulu did not spare Scopa, which has been questioning government officials based on the auditor-general’s report .
“I don’t know if Scopa knows what the auditor-general’s report is about.
“I get a feeling that if they knew, then they might be concentrating on a different outcome.
“What they are finding are the things which we ourselves did find and have tried to correct,” she said.
She cited an investigation she commissioned in 2005 from law firm Cheadle Thompson & Haysom , which found no evidence of “inappropriate behaviour” on Cyberia’s part, although it concluded that the company had no prior expertise in managing projects as large as N2 Gateway.
Cyberia was replaced by Thubelisha Homes, which also struggled to manage the project.
Scopa’s chairman, Themba Godi, demanded in the most recent hearing on the matter, two weeks ago, that action be taken against those involved in “fruitless expenditure”
Department of Human Settlements director-general Itumeleng Kotsoane conceded that the project was mired in political tension between the three spheres of government, who are supposed to co-operate through a steering committee.
He said that Cape Town city officials did not attend meetings of the committee.
- Sunday Times
No comments:
Post a Comment