The Democratic Alliance (DA) submitted questions to investigate the non-payment of contractors by the Northern Cape Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements & Traditional Affairs further.
I’ve spoken to local contractors who were forced to sell machinery to cover expenses, thereby making it impossible for them to bid for lucrative contracts in future. As we are in the middle of a month dedicated to women, it was particularly demoralising to learn of one female-owned company that had to close entirely after the department failed to pay fees owed to her. It seems that the department, which owes R500 million to just one of its implementing agents and owed more than R148 million to contractors at the start of the 2024/25 financial year, is unable to manage its finances prudently and to the benefit of the provincial economy.
We want to establish how much is currently owed to the contractors servicing sites and building top structures as part of the R1 billion housing project, which has seen more stops-and-starts than roadworks on the N1 usually does. While this project initially promised growth for the local economy, the Quarterly Labour Force Survey released earlier this month confirmed that there’s been a year-on-year decrease of nearly 10% in employment opportunities in the Northern Cape’s construction industry. This is in stark contrast to growth experienced in the same sector elsewhere in the country.
Projects like the R1 billion housing project should lessen the expanded unemployment rate of 46.9%. To achieve this, we need to refocus public spending and cut unnecessary costs so that contractors can be paid on time. We must get these basics right to turbocharge the Northern Cape’s economy.