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Prices on renovations for a guardhouse, classrooms and fence were obscenely inflated.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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A winning bidder in one of Mpumalanga Department of Education’s controversial maintenance tenders has alleged that the ‘inflated’ value of the work his company did was determined by the department’s quantity surveyors.

The tenders, which the department issued for renovations on 11 sites that included the Ehlanzeni regional offices and schools, caused an outcry for being obscenely inflated.

Melusi Shongwe’s Indumane Trading quoted the highest amount of R956 535.50 to renovate the fence at the department’s offices in KaNyamazane township outside Mbombela.

The department selected the bidding companies from the central database. Indumane’s competitors Gabeshe Trading and Balinye Trading quoted less - R767 015.50 and R913 869.35 respectively – but they were overlooked.

Insiders said the company did nothing much except repainting the palisade fence around the offices.

Mpumalanga education spokesperson, Jasper Zwane, has since refused to explain the exorbitant charges. “We can’t comment because the matter is under investigation,” Zwane said.

Zwane had, however, declined to respond to The People’s Eye questions sent to him before the Select Committee on Public Accounts read our story and announced that it would launch an investigation.

Shongwe refused to be transparent and give a breakdown of how he arrived at the figure he quoted the department on.

“I’m not sure if you are aware that the department sent their own QS (quantity surveyor) to quantify the work that my company did and they are in possession of that report,” Shongwe said.

However, an insider said that it was unlikely that a quantity surveyor was involved, hence the amounts were inflated. “The memorandum (listing the bidders) would have indicated if quantity surveyors were involved,” said the insider.

The fence that Shongwe’s company renovated is at the Ehlanzeni regional offices where the re-painting and changing the roof of a tiny guard house cost about R1 million.

The exorbitant prices are stated in an internal memorandum that The People’s Eye has seen. Zwane has, however, denied any wrongdoing or inflated charges but failed to indicate the correct figures.

The internal memorandum dated December 12 2023 indicated that supply chain officials appointed three companies at a combined price of R3.2 million to renovate the guard house.

Zwane has denied that more than one company was appointed for the facelift for each of 11 projects.

According to the memorandum, the department paid close to a R1 million or just above for the guardhouse.

The memorandum said that three companies were appointed. Mhloti Trading submitted a quotation of R993 519.50, Mangethe Holdings (R1.042 million) and Pelkins Group (R1.2 million).

Even if the lowest quote of R993 519.50 was taken to change the roof and re-paint the guardhouse, it is still obscenely exorbitant, and costs way more than building a new one.

To show how unscrupulous the officials were in accepting the quotations, The People’s Eye has established what R993 519.50 can do in the construction industry.

·      It can build five RDP houses at the current rate of R185 000 each;

·      It can buy a two- or three-bedroom house in Karino outside Mbombela, and leave change of about R200 000 or more. According to houses for sale listed by Seef Properties, a three bedroom 61 square metres freehold house with one bathroom costs R850 000 and a two bedroom house goes for R695 000;

·      It can replace 91 pit toilets at a cost of R35 000 per unit.

A three-bedroom house at Stonehenge suburb in Mbombela cost about R1.2 million. The department’s guardhouse renovation is worth just about R200 000 short of buying a house in Stonehenge.