Latest news with #Mea
The Star
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Star
Concerns raised over R1. 8 million payment for incomplete stadium project in Durban
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]
BBC News
20-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Ukraine and Russia to hold parallel talks in Saudi Arabia next week
Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukrainian officials will meet their US counterparts in Saudi Arabia next Monday, after the Kremlin confirmed US-Russia talks there the same latest talks come as the US attempts to broker a ceasefire between the two nations after more than three years of Ukrainian leader said Russia "must stop making unnecessary demands that only prolong the war". Russian President Vladimir Putin's demands include a complete end to Ukraine's allies providing military also warned that taking Nato membership for Ukraine off the table - something Moscow has demanded - would be a "big gift to Russia". Both Zelensky and Putin have agreed to a ceasefire in principle during conversations with the US - but one has yet to materialise due to conflicting Russian leader most recently agreed to a halt to air strikes on energy and rail infrastructure, as well as ports - but such strikes from both sides have was in Oslo, Norway on Thursday, where he met Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Stø about comments by the White House touting the possible US ownership of Ukraine's nuclear power plants at a joint news conference, Zelensky ruled this out said that he had not directly discussed ownership of the Zaporizhia power plant - which is currently under Russian control - in his phone call with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, adding that "all nuclear power plants belong to the people of Ukraine".However, he said he was open to the US taking the plant from Russia to invest in or if he was ready to make territorial concessions to Russia, particularly Crimea, which has been in Russian hands since 2014, Zelensky said: "That is a Ukrainian peninsula," adding that Crimea was an "integral part" of his is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, despite Russia's occupation and claimed asked what a ceasefire might look like, Zelensky said the first stage would have to be a ceasefire by land and sea, as Ukraine sees this as the only way to stop Russian was able to extract an agreement for a ceasefire on energy infrastructure - which Russia has repeatedly targeted - from Putin in a call on Tuesday, but nothing the meantime, the war - which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 - continues. Strikes overnight killed two people in Ukraine, while Ukrainian drone attacks injured 10 and set an airfield on fire in to EU leaders via video link, Zelensky reiterated calls for military aid to continue, asking European leaders for at least €5bn (£4.18bn) for artillery shells "as soon as possible", and said that continued support for Ukraine was "crucial".Zelensky also said the EU must be involved in peace talks, and urged Europe not to "ease pressure on Russia over the war".EU leaders in Brussels were deciding their defence strategy and bolstering security measures for Ukraine. Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said "the time for planning is now" when it comes to a peace deal for Ukraine, after proposing a "coalition of the willing" to enforce peace in Ukraine following a during a visit to a military base in London, he said he was "well aware that a deal may be in stages" but added that the "more planning we can do here now... the better because we're getting ahead of the challenge to make sure that we're as effective as possible". Earlier, the prime minister held a closed-door meeting with senior military officers from nations of the "coalition of the willing" to draw up to a government spokesman, more than 30 countries are expected to contribute to the coalition, which is led by the UK and France.
