Buffalo City Metro’s legal services unit has recommended that companies and officials implicated in the failed R57m Mdantsane swimming pool project face blacklisting, civil claims and possible criminal charges.
A confidential report, tabled at a recent council meeting, outlines widespread financial and management failures in the long-running project that drained public funds for more than a decade but left the pool unusable.
The legal unit’s findings follow a forensic investigation by EY (formerly Ernst and Young) that revealed payments to companies with no link to the project, possible conflicts of interest involving municipal staff, and structural defects caused by poor planning.
In a “top secret” report tabled at a recent council meeting, metro legal unit head advocate Mlamli Zenzile said the findings of the forensic team “reveal deeply entrenched weaknesses in the city’s project management, procurement compliance, and professional accountability”.
The council-sanctioned EY forensic report, tabled in the council in May, was later referred to the city’s legal unit for assessment.
Zenzile said the unit had now done this assessment.
“This report provides a detailed analysis of legal implications, the responsibilities of implicated parties, and recommended remedial disciplinary and legal actions.”
Zenzile recommended the city terminate its contract with the Limpopo-based consulting engineering firm appointed in 2017 to oversee the pool precinct upgrades.
The company could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Zenzile also recommended that the city instruct its attorneys to institute civil proceedings against the company for overpayments, cost of remedial work, delay-related damages, breach of contract and negligence.
The city’s administration bosses were accused of approving payments for the pool project while work was incomplete and defective, failing to monitor consultant instructions and lacking internal checks to detect irregular subcontracting.
“These represent systematic failures in financial oversight and internal control.”
The pool complex was closed in the 1980s as it was in disrepair.
From 2009, the municipality started talks to restore the Olympic-sized pool. These plans gained momentum in 2010 with the launch of the Mdantsane Urban Renewal Programme.
Construction began in 2017 with an initial budget of R22m, but the project quickly ran into delays and costs started ballooning.
The plan was to complete the main pool and then build a diving pool. But thanks to poor planning, blasting to create the diving pool was done only after the main pool had been built, causing irreparable structural damage to the main pool.
The EY report said there were many issues such as the absence of feasibility studies, improper sequencing of project phases, a lack of detailed cost breakdowns and no risk-mitigation strategies.
Zenzile also said the contracted consulting engineering firm’s unilateral amendment of the scope of work in the project, its appointment of secondary service providers and unauthorised budget deviations were never tabled before the council nor subjected to public notice.
“Further investigation and prosecution are warranted, based on prima facie evidence of misconduct.”
The EY forensic report also revealed possible conflicts of interest between unnamed BCM employees and municipal suppliers.
Zenzile said it had identified overlapping ownership or directorships between employees and vendors, while payments to entities connected to municipal officials were also made.
He recommended that financial misconduct disciplinary processes be instituted against those metro officials, while some matters should be referred to the Hawks, the auditor-general and the Engineering Council of SA.
In his report to the council, city manager Mxolisi Yawa recommended the council should consider referring this final report to the metro’s disciplinary board.
Yawa conceded “the findings indicate poor management, delays in completion and quality issues, suggesting failure in both BCM and [the company’s] project management responsibilities”.
It had been reported that, while the council had previously been informed costs related to the swimming pool complex project were about R25m, forensic investigators had revealed they had soared to more than R56.9m between 2012 and 2024.
With an additional R14.5m needed and approved by the council in May, for the “rehabilitation and completion” of the project, costs will escalate to more than R71m.
The forensic probe revealed that money was distributed to more than 60 companies — with more than R13.7m paid to 46 service providers who had nothing to do with the pool project.
On Thursday, DA councillor Anathi Majeke confirmed the meeting which discussed the report had resolved to refer it to the city’s disciplinary board. The DA was not opposed to this.
“But we stressed the board deals with individual cases against staff ... and that the forensic report be used as supporting evidence so the board could ascertain if prima facie cases exist for disciplinary hearings to be conducted.
“The forensic report, correctly, indicated that there were also other officials who had served on the bid committees who had a case to answer. Those officials were not named. We believe this is inappropriate.
“Referring the full report the board simply makes its task more difficult and seeks to obscure management’s position on the actions of staff involved.”
EFF councillor Mziyanda Hlekiso said the report was not sufficiently detailed.
The municipality was “just bluffing and playing games, as no-one would be held accountable or arrested for their involvement in this mess”.
UDM councillor Anele Skoti echoed Hlekiso’s views.
Daily Dispatch
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