The National Departments of Public Works and Infrastructure and the Limpopo Provincial Department of Public Works, Roads, and Infrastructure distanced the department from the scandal surrounding the Collins Chabane Municipal building project that was never completed.
This follows revelations that the municipal offices building between the old Home Affairs and the Boxing Gym in Malamulele has reached a standstill.
The project began in 2018, with approximately R50 million spent on it. It is far from complete, and some of the materials used for the building are ailing due to bad weather conditions.
Municipal records indicated that 60% of the municipality's grant was used to pay the 2023 debts to service providers. No projects were initiated in the current financial year 2024/25, leaving insiders wondering how the outstanding projects from the previous financial years will be funded.
Minister Dean Macpherson’s spokesperson, James de Villiers, indicated that it was not part of the project, citing that the municipality initiated the building itself.
“It is therefore not involved in the municipality's infrastructure spending or projects. The National Treasury or provincial government distributes grants, and comments regarding grant funding can be diverted to them,” said de Villiers.
Similarly, the Limpopo Provincial Public Works stated that it was not part of the project, indicating that the municipality is the implementing institution.
“As the Department, we are mainly responsible for client departments at a provincial level., implementing infrastructure on behalf of provincial departments and not at the municipal level. The municipality in question is better placed to respond to the media inquiry,” said the Department’s spokesperson, Emmanuel Mongwe.
When approached for comment, Municipal Manager Richard Shilenge and their spokesperson did not respond to questions from IOL despite promises that they would.
Last year, the Auditor-General’s (AG's) report revealed that 15 municipalities paid a total of R180m to consultants whose work was ineffective. The expenditure on consultants demonstrates massive skills shortages in local government in Limpopo, which spends the most on consultants in the country.
The report highlighted that consulting professionals billed Collins Chabane municipality R29m for similar work.
However, Shilenge defended the municipality, stating that it was a “fairly new municipality” and had relied more on consultants for most of the work since its establishment.
He argued that they could not start a new municipality with adverts asking where they were going to hire 200 people at a time and expect to get quality.
“However, we are slowly moving away from consultants. I have given the finance department two years so that we can do financials internally, and we have started with that process to make sure we do that on our own,” he said.
IOL