By Zohra Mohamed Teke
City manager Mike Sutcliffe has come out in support of the houses built by the Shauwn Mpisane's company in Umlazi, saying they are satisfactory and not falling apart - contrary to reports by an independent engineer who said the homes posed a safety risk to residents.
Sutcliffe's comments over the R300-million Mpisane housing contract is his first response on the matter, after reports in the media alleged tender irregularities in the contract's awarding to the politically connected family.
A National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) forensic audit report into the construction of the houses, is due next week and will be handed over to Human Settlements and Public Works MEC Maggie Govender.
Mpisane's company, Zikhulise Cleaning, Maintenance and Transport, is behind the construction of 3 859 houses which drew widespread condemnation amid allegations of poor building quality and and tender irregularities.
Speaking to the Daily News, Sutcliffe lambasted "grand engineers" - alluding to the engineer in question, Mike Staphorst, for reporting the houses were structurally unsound.
"The reports that these houses were built to sub-standard levels are absolute nonsense and part of media frenzy. I challenge anyone to visit every single one of those houses and they will see that the houses are not falling apart and in fact have been built to standards much higher than RDP houses elsewhere," he said.
"The Mpisanes built well over 3 000 houses and a few were found by the media to have problems.
"But these grand engineers who were quoted as saying the gabion walls were falling apart and were structurally not correct, did not bother to approach us even once to find out if we approved the construction of those walls, or if the resident complaining about the water leakage was in fact an illegal resident who may have moved in before (the building's) completion."
Staphorst has fired back, saying: "It's not my job to investigate what the council should approve and what they should do or who is living in the houses.
"I examined the houses and found the retaining walls had moved and posed a risk to residents. I was proved right, because the walls later collapsed.
"I submitted my findings to the Human Settlements Department and still haven't heard from them," Staphorst said.
Sutcliffe has also rejected corruption allegations with the contract, saying the process was all above-board and transparent.
He challenged anyone with evidence of corruption or fraud on the contract to come forward.
In its response the DA's provincial housing spokesman, George Mari, said he hoped the report would expose what he called "shoddy Mpisane houses" and that the report would be done honestly.
"If the report does not state that the houses are defective and are structurally incorrect, then we know there is a cover-up and we will call for another independent investigation," he said.
However, when asked if the party had visited the houses to examine them for themselves, Mari replied they had not.
"We left this for the media to do and base our complaints on their reports and feedback from the communities," he said.
In her response, Mpisane defended her company, saying she was not aware of the report's completion but hoped the results would be independent and based on facts.
"I have nothing to hide. I stand by what I have always said, and that is that the houses do not have any structural defects."