Anger over tender for Gouda projects

A tender awarded to two companies by the City for projects in Gouda has raised questions. Residents who stay in council-owned properties have raised concerns around the issue of maintenance on these properties, saying that little work has been done.

Papers seen by the Cape Argus show that a tender was awarded to two different companies for retrofit and leak repair work at various council-owned facilities, but residents said that only maintenance was done on their toilets.

Resident Freddy Adams said: “They have only come here to install water meters and dual flushing (toilets). But nothing further than that. They did this work in February, but nothing else has come from that.”

Another resident, Magdalene Holies, said the homes have deteriorated over the years and, as she is a pensioner, she cannot afford to maintain the home. “We don’t have title deeds, and no one has come to us and explained what we can and cannot do on the property because we aren't the owners of the home. We are pensioners and we can’t afford the maintenance,” she said.

Another resident, Sarah Oliver, a widow and pensioner, said her roof broke. “We have to get people ourselves to fix the home, but we can’t afford it. And no one is communicating with us,” she said. The Cape Argus visited Gouda and found that only maintenance in the bathrooms had been done.

According to information received, payments were made to one of the tender companies, from March to June this year, after work was done in residents' bathrooms. These payments were for R445 308, R278 407, R251 911, and R146 692. According to the City, funds were channelled towards the City’s Covid-19 response. This despite invoices showing “Gouda Housing - RetroFit”.

The City, in reply to questions, said: “All other works that took place at the various sites were completed and paid for accordingly. The City does not have any maintenance tenders available. Most of the maintenance work is conducted by the depot. The execution of work is either conducted by internal staff or via a request for a quotation (RFQ). Also, maintenance is ongoing and is attended to as per request.”

It said the properties belonged to the City. As such, the occupants do not own these properties and therefore cannot receive title deeds. The tender has raised the ire of opposition parties. Good general secretary Brett Herron said: “The City needs to come clean about the tenders it awards. There is an increasing pattern of secrecy, which is unacceptable since it is spending public funding and we have a right to transparency.

“The City also needs to account for the maintenance of public assets. These houses are public assets that make up our balance sheet. They are not private assets that entitles the City to any sort of confidentiality. “We need to know how these houses are being maintained and what contracts have been awarded by tender.”

ANC provincial legislature leader Cameron Dugmore said: “This matter requires urgent investigation by both provincial and national housing departments. Previously we have seen the City fail small contractors and beneficiaries who were ripped off by Filcon. The DA refused to confirm or deny whether Filcon was one of their donors.

“Contractors who fail our communities must be exposed as well as any City officials who are failing to exercise their oversight role or, in certain cases, are turning a blind eye to corrupt developers.

“We will ask our ANC councillors to call for an inquiry and as leader of opposition I will ask our national Minister. In such cases, it is always the intended beneficiaries who suffer. There must be consequences and corrective action taken against those responsible.”