Durban -
The continuing tax and fraud cases against controversial Durban businesswoman Shauwn Mpisane seem to have had little impact on her ability to rake in millions from the eThekwini Municipality with about R229 million paid to her in three months this year.
The payments were made by the city to Mpisane’s Nedbank account between June 12 and September 26, according to the latest papers filed by the national director of public prosecutions in the Pietermaritzburg High Court in a matter in which her assets have been seized pending the outcome of one of the criminal cases against her.
She received R1.2m from the KwaDukuza Municipality for housing over the same period.
And in a report, tabled at the city’s finance and procurement committee meeting earlier this year, Mpisane’s company was listed as one of the top 15 suppliers to the municipality, having secured contracts worth R445m in the 2012/13 financial year.
These contracts were for housing developments in uMlazi and included building, providing basic infrastructure, exhumation of graves and associated bulk services.
The Mercury previously reported that Mpisane’s company, Zikhulise Cleaning, Maintenance and Transport, was appointed by the municipality via section 36 of the supply-chain management policy, which is used when it is necessary to bypass normal procurement processes.
The contract was to build 2 825 houses in uMlazi and followed an out-of-court settlement she reached with the city after the initial contract had been suspended because the award of the tender was deemed to be flawed because, it was alleged, procurement processes had not been followed and key documents might have been manipulated.
The DA caucus leader in the council, Zwakele Mncwango, said Mpisane should not be allowed to do business with the municipality because of her previous conviction of tax evasion and her track record of building “sub-standard” houses.
Mpisane has previously denied this claim.
Mncwango said the municipality needed to seriously look at how it was promoting black economic empowerment (BEE) and ensure that contracts were evenly spread.
“The report shows that contacts valued at nearly half a billion rand were awarded to one person for different projects. If the city is serious about BEE then you can’t have one person benefiting,” he said.
Mncwango also said city manger Sbu Sithole had not given the council a mandate to settle the legal dispute with Mpisane.
Minority Front councillor Patrick Pillay said the city should be transparent and state whether or not Mpisane had completed the job and if the quality of houses met the required standards before the payments were made.
“If the payments were made and the project is not complete then those payments are irregular,” he said.
While Mpisane did not respond to e-mailed questions, municipal spokesman Thabo Mofokeng said that the payments made to Zikhulise were part of the court settlement, which allowed the company to complete the 2 825 houses in uMlazi.
According to Mofokeng, the contract was worth R406m, excluding VAT. He said the work was still in progress and because houses were completed at various stages, payments were staggered.
KwaDukuza spokesman Bonginkosi Nhaca said Zikhulise was appointed to build 1 980 housing units in the Groutville Priority 2 Project, which included the construction of roads and civil services following a competitive bidding process and proper evaluation by independent bid committees.
“The contractor has been on site since last year. They are paid as per the normal Human Settlements payment procedures developed by the KZN Department of Human Settlements,” he said.
Last year, The Mercury reported that Sithole, when taking the reins as city manager, said contracts should not be the preserve of a few individuals.
The Mercury