Photo: Facebook
Photo: Facebook
Was there ever any doubt that something like this would surface? The R15 million stadium opened in Lesseyton, Eastern Cape this week raised suspicions from the minute its ceremonial ribbon was cut.
And by ceremonial ribbon, of course, we mean barrier tape…
A report carried by the Daily Dispatch on Friday has blown the lid off the whole sorry process. Alarm bells started ringing on Monday, when the R15 million price tag announced for the glorified playing field turned out to be R7 million less than the initial price. Even then, the eight-figure fee still looked exceedingly steep.
A cost evaluation sent to the DA on Thursday valued the so-called stadium at R4.85 million, meaning that the ANC municipality of Enoch Mgijima spent THREE TIMES as much as they should have on the ill-fated project.
However, these latest revelations really do prove that those in charge of the tender process have A LOT to answer for. Thalami Civils, the company chosen to carry out the stadium works, also come out of this battered and bruised:
With just over three weeks to go until the 2021 Elections, this is exactly the kind of PR nightmare the ANC could do without. But officials for the Enoch Mgijima Municipality initially seemed to have no shame. They were the ones who uploaded pictures and videos of the grand unveiling to their Facebook pages, after all…
It was only the public backlash that forced them into a retreat. Even then, local politicians tried to defend the R15 million stadium, saying that most of the money was spent on ‘earthworks and ‘state-of-the-art changing rooms’. Needless to say, the final product does not live up to its billing – and a slew of criminal probes are now underway.