R50-million down the drain

GEORGE NEWS - Fifty million rand earmarked for George has been lost.

George Municipality learned earlier this week that they have forfeited the money from the National Department of Treasury for the upgrade of the Thembalethu section of the Nelson Mandela Boulevard, due to unspent funds and "inaccurate disclosure".

Treasury rejected the municipality's request to roll over the unspent amount of R47,2-million into the 2017/2018 financial year.

The upgrade ties in with the infrastructure for the George Integrated Public Transport Network (GIPTN) project. It includes the widening of the road and creation of additional lanes.

Muravha Building and Civil, the Mbombela company that landed the contract for the project, started work late in September.

The anticipated completion date is 16 November 2018. The R50-million was granted on condition that the municipality appoint a contractor by 1 July, the start of the new book year.

Although the terrain handover took place on Monday 3 July, no visible work was done for months.

The reasons Treasury gave for the rejection of the roll-over are as follows: Inaccurate disclosure of Public Transport Network Grant (PTNG) performance in the 2017 pre-audited Annual Financial Statements; and less than 50% was spent against the PTNG allocation of R106,4-million.

"In essence, the department is unhappy with the movement on the project," said a knowledgeable source.

"George didn't perform. We were supposed to start before the beginning of the current financial year and we didn't.

"If we had a contractor on site before the end of June, they would have approved the roll-over."

On a request for comment, Municipal Spokesperson Chantel Edwards-Klose said the municipality will engage with National Treasury through the necessary administrative processes in this regard.

"The municipality disputes the reasons given by National Treasury for the rejection of the roll-over application," said Edwards-Klose.

"It must be noted that the funding in question is a grant funding allocation from 2016/17. In order to accommodate the project until the roll-over application has been clarified with National Treasury, a reprioritisation of the 2017/18 Grant Allocation will be required. No funding can be used from ratepayer income."

In April this year, ousted Director of Civil Engineering Harold Basson warned council of the consequences should they neglect to heed the time frame given by Treasury.

At the time Mayor Melvin Naik was very confident that the money would be safe.

Drama regarding the publication date of the tender followed and resulted in both Basson and his deputy, Lindsay Mooiman, being placed on special leave in May, pending disciplinary action requested by Naik.

Basson has since accepted an offer of early retirement after council was advised there is insufficient evidence for a successful disciplinary.

The case against Mooiman was also withdrawn and she returned to work on Monday after an extended period of sick leave, but is currently only working half day.

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