Johannesburg - Finally, after eight years, plans are under way in the Gauteng provincial government to blacklist contractors who do shoddy work while pocketing millions of rand in public funds.
Last month, the provincial Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) appointed a law firm to probe all firms doing maintenance work for the Health Department.
The department is also set to establish an anti-corruption unit to stop collusion between government officials and construction companies. It further plans to establish a quality-assurance unit to oversee the appointment of credible contractors.
This was revealed by MEC Jacob Mamabolo when he appeared before the portfolio committee on infrastructure development in the legislature on Thursday.
The portfolio committee, under chairwoman Lindiwe Lasindwa, had summoned Mamabolo and other social cluster MECs to deal with the glitches in the construction and maintenance of major projects.
It emerged on Thursday that contractors for some of the department’s major projects in education and health, including the construction of schools, hospitals and clinics, were not meeting their construction deadlines. This is causing huge financial losses for these departments.
It also emerged that some of these contractors did not have the correct registration certificates to do construction work.
Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi and his counterpart in Health, Qedani Mahlangu, said citizens were being denied services due to their inability to deliver on time.
“In most cases, the quality of schools built by the Department of Infrastructure could easily be mistaken to be shopping malls because of their outlook,” Lesufi said.
Mahlangu said the government wanted contractors to build health centres that looked as corporate as Netcare and Life Healthcare.
Social Development MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza wanted the DID to provide her department with land to build early childhood development centres and drug rehabilitation centres. She has a budget of R191 million for social infrastructure projects but no land on which to build.
Mamabolo said his department, through its recently launched Lutsinga project, was trying to monitor all construction projects for client departments. Mamabolo promised to crack the whip on project managers not doing their work properly.
Mamabolo said the appointment of a law firm to deal with rogue construction companies was their first step in blacklisting non-performing companies. He also promised to help Social Development to find suitable land for its projects.
The Star