The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape has requested an urgent investigation into the 6738 incidents of irregular expenditure, incurred by the by the Northern Cape Department of Roads and Public Works, amounting to over R3.7 billion.
During the briefing of by Auditor General’s office, on the department’s performance for the 2024/2025 financial year, it was revealed that it took the department ten years to clear only 1152 incidents. The 5 677 remaining cases will take the department more than 47 years to clear.
The irregular expenditure was largely incurred due to the department’s non-compliant bid adjudication processes, non-compliance with supply chain management prescripts, and its failure to take effective and appropriate steps to prevent irregular expenditure. The department also procured goods and services without obtaining at least three written price quotations, did not apply the preference point system accordingly, and awarded contract to bidders that did not score the highest points in the evaluation process.
The road rehabilitation project of the MR938 in the Hotazel and Kathu area, is one of the contracts in question. The court ordered the contract to be set aside due to irregularities in the procurement process and the unlawful awarding of the contract. The AG’s office found that payments for the claims were made in contravention of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and resulted in the likely financial loss of more than R38 million for the department, if not recovered. This matter is now being investigated by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
The department is also still likely to incur a material financial loss of more than R8 million for payments made to a second contractor for poor workmanship on the new mental health facility, dating back to 2011. This matter is currently under investigation by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) and was labelled as “an embarrassment” by the Premier, Dr Zamani Saul, in September this year.
Following the department’s total disregard for compliance to legal processes in project and contract management, the DA has requested the AGSA for an in-depth investigation into the 5 677 uncleared cases.
This department can no longer be allowed to squander public funds at the expense of incomplete, delayed and poorly executed public works and transport infrastructure projects in the province.