By OBAKENG MAJE
The residents of Molelema village near Taung have taken upon themselves to fix the 15km road in their village, which links them to a tarred road leading to the Taung CBD. This comes after the D207 road construction project worth over R65 million was brought to a grinding halt after the department terminated the contract of the contractor, Botong Nkolele JV Construction over the obligation dispute.
However, the director of Botong Nkolele JV Construction, Daddy Tong took the matter for an arbitration in December 2021 and won the case. The department was allegedly instructed to reinstate the Botong Nkolele JV Construction, but that has not happened five months later.
One of the residents, Pogisho Afrika said, they have decided to fix the road because the deterioration of the road hits home on a personal level. He said they have requested each household to donate R5, while motorists donate R10.
“As locals, we fixed this road by grading the road using wheelbarrows. We are grateful because we have received unwavering support from our people. We have lost hope of getting any tarred road in our area. Recently, we have experienced torrential rains and our roads are inaccessible.
“This is all happening because of the perceived ineptitude of the department. It is difficult to run our errands without an accessible road. We also experience difficulties to access healthcare centres, in terms of emergency,” Afrika said.
The Community Liaison Officer (CLO) for the project, Mothibi Makoro shared the same sentiments. Makoro alleged that they have not received their salaries for three months in (June, July and August) 2020 due to the department’s failure to pay the contractor.
“It is so unfortunate that the contractor tried numerous times to engage with the department, but his attempts fell in deaf ears. The department owes us an explanation as to what is happening just like they gave an explanation when they terminated the agreement between them and the contractor.
“Rumours are doing rounds that the contractor has won a case, but we as the community do not understand what that entails,” he said.
The contractor, Daddy Tong said: “At this stage, the department has not adjudicated our claims to the value of about R25 million. They have been mute and never responded to our plea for adjudication and processing of payments. This matter is part of the issues we have included in our court proceedings.
“Prior to this, the department had defaulted in the payment of two invoices. We submitted invoice of R15 million on 12 July 2020, and it was only paid on 28 December 2020. We also submitted another invoice on 24 August 2020, and it was only paid on 30 April 2021,” he said.
Tong further said all invoices were paid after a struggle, even though there was no valid reason issued by the department to explain the delay. He added that the dispute started on 2 June 2020 after the department realised that they had made a gross error.
“They did not follow correct procedure when awarding a contract. In terms
of procurement and contract requirements, the department was supposed to identify errors in the pricing of the contractor prior awarding of contract.
“This is called arithmetic error correction and they failed to follow the procedure prior awarding of the contract on 27 September 2019. The contract is a re-measurable contract and that means the price of R65 918 991.18 awarded does not necessarily entail final price once the work is completed,” he said.
The chairperson of the North West Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Roads, Kim Medupe said: “As the committee, we are concerned about the condition and the status of the roads in the province. In some areas visited, the communities could not even go to work which is obviously having a negative impact on the lives of the people.
“The current issue of the road in Molelema village in Taung has come to the attention of the committee and we are awaiting a detailed report on the developments around this road from the department and there will be committee meetings with the department to resolve this issue.”
Meanwhile, the North West Public Works and Roads spokesperson, Matshube Mfoloe said: “I can confirm that I have forwarded your set of questions to our Directorate Legal Services and Chief Directorate: Transport Infrastructure for confirmation and clarity. However, I had neither received a legal response to your questions nor input from the Chief Directorate: Transport Infrastructure.”
Recently, the department returned unused R86 million to the national treasury that was allocated to fix the roads.
The Guardian 