Concerns raised over R1. 8 million payment for incomplete stadium project in Durban

The Star

5 days ago

Zainul Dawood | Published 1 day ago
The management of the eThekwini municipality came under scrutiny for an allocation of R1.8 million for the rehabilitation of the Rotary Stadium in KwaMashu despite non-performance issues by the service provider.
Councillors approved the urgent reprioritisation of a budget to cater for the stadium rehabilitation. According to the municipality, the R1.8 million is sourced from various projects including R585,000 from a library project.
In a report before eThekwini council on Monday, the Parks Recreation and Culture (PRC) Unit stated that the mandate is to build new and to rehabilitate existing facilities.
In 2024 and 2025, the PRC unit was allocated R185 million for capital projects to build new facilities and develop the existing facilities within the city. There were no figures provided on how much was already spent on the stadium. The municipality stated that the cancellation was due to circumstances beyond their control and that the project was halted due to non-performance issues by the service provider.
The municipality stated that the final account for closing this project has been concluded and the invoice has been received for the payment. The municipality stated that the project line item currently has a budget shortfall, and the unit has identified savings within the unit's capital budget to be reprioritised for the payment of the final account for the project.
Following an in-depth consideration of the item, the DA and Truly Alliance (TA) expressed reservations regarding the approval of this item and proposed that an oversight visit be conducted prior to the approval, as they were of the view that they needed to have all information regarding the work done and the work still outstanding.
This submission therefore seeks authority to pay for part of work already undertaken under this project, with attention drawn to the urgency of the matter in view of threats being levelled against the municipal officials as a result of non-payment.
Daniel Mea, DA Councillor, said the project had come before council again, this time not for progress, but for payment to a contractor who failed to complete the job. Mea said the DA will not endorse rewarding failure and because the facts placed before the council remain deeply concerning and unresolved.
'We were told that the contractor ran out of money and could not complete the contract. This raises critical red flags. Was there a proper project cash flow monitoring and did this not have a fixed scope or fixed budget contract? How did the contractor reach a point where the budget was exhausted but the work remained incomplete? And perhaps most alarmingly despite this failure the municipality now proposes to pay him more," Mea said.
Mea said this sets a dangerous precedent and 'one cannot and must not create a culture where underperformance is rewarded and failure is f ollowed by financial rescue'.
'To date, council has not been provided with a comprehensive audit of the actual work delivered, nor the timeline of expenditure. If the council continues to rubber stamp such proposals then it is complicit in the erosion of accountability. Oversight committees must not be passive observers,' Mea said.
Councillor Musa Khubeka, of ActionSA, expressed serious reservations, stating that one could not approve millions of rands when the report showed that other parties' views, concerns and suggestions of doing oversight were not addressed during a committee meeting.
'We demand transparency and accountability is very important, oversight must be done,' Khubeka said.
[email protected]