Probe into R220m deal given to novice firm

The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) has launched an investigation into a R220-million Limpopo tender contract which appears to have been awarded to a joint venture, under-qualified for the job, which has links to the ANC. The awarding of a 51km pipeline contract to Tlong Re Yeng Trading & Projects in conjunction with Base Major Construction has been at the centre of litigation since November. Two losing bidders are fighting for the award to be reviewed. One of the partners in the joint venture is related to Selby Manthata, a business associate of Limpopo premier and ANC provincial chairman Cassel Mathale. Tlong Re Yeng Trading & Projects, which has a 30 percent stake in the winning joint venture, is owned by Constance Malebati, who is reportedly Manthata’s sister. “Selby is my business partner… There are things that Selby and I did together,” Mathale told City Press earlier this year. Uereka Resource, Emerald Sky Trading 18 and Sellrah Investments are among the companies in which they share directorships.

Mathale and ANC Youth League spokesman Floyd Shivambu have in the past defended the awarding of contracts to Manthata’s Selby Construction – which also bid for the pipeline contract but was disqualified because its grading was too low. The Sunday Independent tried to reach Malebati on her home phone, which was answered by a woman who said she was her sister, Tinyiko. When asked whether Malebati was related to Selby Construction director Julitha Manthata, Tinyiko said: “Julitha is our older sister.” She also confirmed that “Selby is our youngest brother” and said Malebati had worked at Selby Construction until last year, before starting Tlong Re Yeng in August. Cipro documents indicate the company was registered on August 13 last year – four days after the pipeline tender was advertised and two days after the compulsory site inspection was held. Tlong Re Yeng does not appear on the list of tenderers who attended the site inspection, but partner Base Major Construction does.

Earlier this year, both Selby and Julitha vehemently denied ever knowing Malebati, even though she had registered Julitha’s cellphone number as her own on the CIDB database. Two Lenyenye residents also confirmed they were sisters. A Lexis Nexis search showed that Malebati had been employed at Selby Construction. Telephoned on Saturday, Malebati said “no comment” and hung up. Meanwhile the CIDB has requested documentation from the Mopani District municipality in order to investigate the awarding of the contract. The building industry watchdog wants to see the original tender advert and other pertinent records and documents. Lawyers for one of the losing bidders, Esorfranki, have obtained an affidavit from Jetro Makhubu, a CIDB project manager in legal compliance, stating that the joint venture lacks a high enough contractor grading to have won the award. The affidavit is part of their case for a review of the tender. “I confirm that the joint venture composed of Tlong Re Yeng Trading CC and Base Major Construction, with Bass Major Construction as the 70 percent (and main) partner, has a joint CIDB grading of 8CE, Mukhubu said in the affidavit. “For contracts with a value in excess of R130m a CIDB grading of 9CE is required, he says.

In addition to taking issue with the composition of the joint venture, losing bidders Cycad Pipelines and Esorfranki Pipelines – both of which have specialist pipeline divisions – have questioned the motives of the municipality in awarding the contract to a company with little pipeline construction experience. A copy of the tender advert forms part of papers in the Pretoria High Court. It calls for bids from contractors with a civil engineering (CE) grading of 8. In April CIDB Construction Register Services programme manger Ebrahim Moola said the advert was “incorrect” and should have called for level 9CE contractors. He also pointed out that 8CE PE contractors, which refers to civil engineering with potentially emerging (PE) status, could bid for a 9CE contract as long as the employer made it clear in the advert that it would provide additional support. Moola pointed out an anomaly in the CIDB grading for joint ventures which gave two different scores for the Tlong Re Yeng/Base Major joint venture depending which is put in as the lead partner. If Tlong Re Yeng’s 1CE PE grading is entered as lead partner the joint venture grading is 9CE. Meanwhile the municipality, Esorfranki and the joint venture are to negotiate a date for the matter to be arbitrated after six months of wrangling.