Angry businesspeople are threatening to take the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) to court, citing financial losses following an announcement that the tender to construct the Mtentu mega bridge would be cancelled.
This week, Sanral announced the cancellation of tenders of some of the country’s mega infrastructural projects including the R3.4bn Mtentu bridge in Mbizana. The R1bn tender to rehabilitate the R56 road in Matatiele was also cancelled.
President Cyril Ramaphosa visited some infrastructural projects in the Mpondoland area in September last year, including the R1.65bn Msikaba bridge project in rural Lusikisiki.
The president at the time said the project to construct the two bridges was enormous. It would create about 8,000 permanent jobs, and between 21,000 to 28,000 indirect jobs during construction.
When completed, the bridge will connect Durban and East London via the proposed Wild Coast tollway.
The cancellation of the Eastern Cape tenders means thousands of jobs have been effectively put on hold.
The office of the premier said the cancellation of the Mtentu tender was “quite disappointing”.
Mbizana businessman Dr Ntsizakalo Ngalo said over 50 small business owners would be adversely affected by the cancellation.
“We are going to take Sanral to court because they are taking people for granted. I was one of the people who facilitated and mediated when there were disputes over the construction of the Mtentu bridge.
“Small businesses have no capacity to borrow money. Sub-contractors were ready to start working on the project.
“They bought the material and equipment. The cancellation means they are going to suffer severe financial loss,” Ngalo said.
Chief Sonwabile Jama from the nearby KuKhanyayo locality said they were not happy with Sanral’s conduct.
“We want the Mtentu bridge to be constructed. The people are not happy with Sanral.
“Last year, they told us they were ready to bring in the contractor but now they are telling a different story,” Jama said.
Mbizana Business Chamber chair Ayanda Notshweleka said even though they had read about the cancellation of the tender on social media, it was still a big disappointment for them.
He said the situation was a big setback for businesses in the area and local communities.
“In 2019 it was stopped and many people lost their jobs in the project. Even businesses lost opportunities,” he said.
“It is a huge setback for a region like this which is ravaged by poverty, unemployed and is highly underdeveloped.”
He said while they hoped the project would go for re-tender in the not so distant future, this could also have serious financial implications for SA taxpayers who would have to bear the burden of price escalation.
Premier Oscar Mabuyane’s spokesperson, Khuselwa Rantjie, said: “It is quite disappointing for the Eastern Cape as we were looking forward to see these projects take off.
“These are about improving strategic infrastructure and the socioeconomic development prospects of the province.”
“It is also a blow considering the number of jobs that would have been created for local people.
“We will be engaging Sanral to have insights on the challenges and also to get clarity on the way forward.
“The implementation of these projects will have a massive impact for the province and we will engage to ensure they are back on track as a matter of urgency,” Rantjie said.
In a statement on Thursday, Sanral said its board would address the media on Monday “to expose the deliberate misinformation and distortion of facts” around the cancellation of the tender.
Transport minister Fikile Mbalula will join the press conference.
Sanral said the cancellation of the tenders was due to:
- Non-compliance with and violation of its resolution which led to a material irregularity in the tendering process;
- The involvement of external design consultants in the evaluation of tenders and therefore arrogating Sanral’s power to determine qualifying bidders to external private individuals;
- Reduction and cancellation of sub-contracting requirements without board approval resulting in the exclusion of black economic empowerment companies at sub-contracting level and losing them more than R2bn; and
- Patterns in the allocation of contracts in the past three years show Sanral’s support for the industry but also illustrates monopolies which are at the heart of the misinformation about the cancellation of these tenders.
“It is important that we take the country and our stakeholders into confidence about these matters and how our actions are in the best interest of Sanral and the public,” Sanral’s board chair Themba Mhambi said .
When Ramaphosa visited the Eastern Cape in September to assess infrastructural projects, he said: “Some day the Mtentu bridge will become a world famous landmark that one finds in magazines, on television, and which tourists visit, like the Golden Gate Bridge in the US, or the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia.
“Once it is completed it will be the highest bridge in Africa, and one of the longest bridges of its kind in the world.”
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