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The municipality once paid lawyers R30 million to recover R600 000 stolen by its officials.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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The Sekhukhune district council in Limpopo has failed to stop an R18 million claim by bulk water construction company and has paid the money to avoid having its bank accounts attached.

The council, which faces numerous lawsuits, has lost R64.4 million in what could be described as silly mistakes and daylight theft by unscrupulous officials.

The story of the R18 million began about two years ago when the contract of Lebaka Construction (Pty) Ltd to build a reservoir and bulk water pipes was terminated allegedly when the owner declined to a pay a bribe to venal officials.

Lebaka was owed R10 million for work done, but unpaid amount had accrued interest of about R8 million when the company was paid last month after suing.

Sekhukhune district spokesperson, Lamson Moropyane, did not respond to written questions sent to him on January 9. “I will revert as soon as I get a comprehensive response from the leadership,” Moropyane said after receiving the questions. By the time of publication, he still had not responded.

The People’s Eye has been reliably informed that the council was called to a special meeting late last month to take a resolution to pay the amount when the sheriff was knocking on its doors.

“All we know is that the company’s contract was terminated to spite the owner for refusing to pay a bribe. The company obtained a court order but the municipality still did not want to pay,” a source said.

“The municipality’s lawyer was not even there when the court granted the order in favour of the company to be paid.”

The district, which has massive service delivery backlogs, has been haemorrhaging cash over the past few years.

The People’s Eye reported in July last year how the municipality paid Hexagon Technologies and Projects R11.6 million when it delayed paying a claim that was initially R6 million.

To make matters worse, the district lost this amount after its attorney allegedly settled a dispute out of court without any instruction from the council.

The law firm in question then lied that the district had lost the matter at a trial but there was no trial that took place.

The saga started when Sekhukhune district had a contractual dispute with with Hexagon , which was awarded a tender for the supply and delivery of precast VIP toilets in the 2012/13 financial year.

Hexagon ceded 100% of its work to another company. Hexagon and the district clashed when the new company demanded more money, because there was a price escalation in the delivery of the toilets. The municipality refused to pay more than the agreed price.

Hexagon sued the municipality in 2015 and won.

Last year, the municipal officials splurged R30 million on lawyers to recover a paltry R600 000.

The lawyers were hired to recover R5.4 million, which corrupt officials working in cahoots with those of their ilk in the bank, channelled to bogus accounts in 2018.

The R5.4 million was stolen in two payments of R4.5 million and R900 000.  

Police froze the accounts and recovered R4.7 million. However, the council decided to hire lawyers to recover the R600 000 that had already been spent.  This exercise has cost the municipality R30 million in legal fees.

In the 2018/19 financial year officials fleeced about R19.6 million in separate tranches. They pilfered R5.4 million, then R12 million (over a year) and then R2.2 million.

The R12 million was transferred in R1 million instalments over 12 months, into an account supposedly belonging to the labour department’s compensation fund.