Malema funder’s shoddy tender

A politically well-connected businessman who was paid millions of rands of taxpayer’s money to complete hundreds of abandoned RDP houses in Limpopo two years ago has yet to be sanctioned despite failing to fix some of them. Instead Steve Bosch, one of ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema’s key benefactors, was rewarded more lucrative tenders from the provincial department of Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional affairs (CoGHTA). The building materials supplier is also a close associate of the provincial CoGHTA top brass – MEC Soviet Lekganyane and departmental head Clifford Motsepe – who are Malema’s confidants.

The elite investigative unit, the Hawks, Sars and Public Protector Thuli Madonsela are probing alleged tender irregularities, including fraud and corruption, in Limpopo. The investigation touches Malema and a number of his key allies who include embattled Premier Cassel Mathale. They are accused of widespread looting of tenders worth hundreds of millions to finance their lavish lifestyles and to buy political patronage. The Sunday Independent can today reveal that Bosch abandoned some of the units for which he pocketed R38.2 million during the 2010/2011 financial year, leaving poor, homeless people high and dry.

Some of the 615 units the businessman later built to the tune of R33.6m had also been marred by poor workmanship and structural defects. Bosch’s company, Raesetja Property Developers – trading as Sizani Build It – scored more than R100m worth of contracts from the Limpopo CoGHTA alone, over the past two financial years. According to Shadrack Gololo, ward committee member of Marulaneng Ga-Chuene village near Polokwane, more than 20 RDP units built or completed by Sizani since last year had structural defects. “We do not know how many houses were faulty, but many had problems. Some people complained about cracked floors, others about shaking and unstable walls, leaking roofs and doors that would not close. We are not satisfied with Raesetja’s work,” Gololo said.

Tseng Diale, spokeswoman for the provincial department, confirmed that Bosch had been paid all his money for the 700 abandoned houses and that he was due to be paid the balance on his R33.6m million contract by the end of this month. Diale and Bosch denied that the developer was being treated differently, adding they were “not aware” of any wrongdoing and poor workmanship by Sizani. Two independent sources, one from the tripartite alliance and another from the RDP construction sector, said Bosch had employed two of Lekganyane’s relatives after the politician became MEC in 2009.

They said the men, Simon and George, had been hired as a driver and a site manager, without the necessary skills or experience. These are just some of Bosch’s previous admissions:

• He told City Press he had allowed the Limpopo SACP under Lekganyane to use his Polokwane building as its provincial headquarters. Bosch kicked out the party after Lekganyane was forced out of his position as provincial secretary.
• The Sunday Times reported that he had admitted that he deposited R1.2 million rand into the account of the architect that designed Malema’s mansion in Sandton, which is currently under construction after Malema demolished the previous R3m house.
• Bosch also conceded he “donated” huge sums of money into the fire-brand youth leader’s Ratanang Family Trust. This came after City Press exposed the trust as a slush fund which Malema used to fund his expensive lifestyle.

The Sunday Independent has seen some of the new houses built by Bosch at Ga-Chuene, 40km south-east of Polokwane. At least six of them had leaking roofs, cracked floors, shaking walls and improperly fitted doors. Bosch maintained he had “successfully” completed his projects. “We are not aware which houses are of poor quality. If you provide specifics of this document then we can check against our documents if we received payments for these houses or not… Obviously if you know of people living in these dangerous conditions, we would only be happy to assist in saving lives.” The provincial CoGHTA was accused of selective application of rules and targeting businessmen opposed to Mathale and Malema when it blacklisted 50 contractors last May.

It banned their directors from doing business with the government for up to 10 years because they had been found guilty of abandoning projects and poor workmanship. Some businessmen like Risimati Mkhari took the department to court, saying the decision to ban them was malicious. A well-placed source, who was regularly briefed by concerned CoGHTA officials about their dealings with Bosch, said the contractor was “untouchable” because he enjoyed “political protection” from Lekganyane, Motsepe and Malema. “He is a well-protected departmental supplier. There were times when Bosch would call Motsepe and say, ‘look, I have not been paid’. And the whole department would run up and down,” said the source.

Bosch rejected accusations that he was “untouchable” because of his associations with Malema, Lekganyane and Motsepe. “We are appointed like any other contractor, our treatment is not in any way special,” Bosch said. The contractor also denied hiring any of Lekganyane’s two relatives, saying “if they are there, they are probably sub-contractors. I certainly do not have a Lekganyane on my payroll”. But Simon confirmed that he had previously worked for Bosch. However, he denied that Lekganyane was his relative or got him the job. “I do not work there anymore. There were certain issues I had with them so I left. It is not true that Lekganyane got me the job. I just know him as MEC and we are not even from the same village,” Simon said.

Lekganyane has since been elected provincial ANC secretary and will vacate his MEC position once Premier Cassel Mathale announces his replacement. He did not respond to questions sent through his PA Joy Letsoalo, ANC Limpopo spokesman David Masondo and Diale. Motsepe referred all enquiries to Diale, who denied any wrongdoing on his part.