Limpopo not blacklisting failed contractors
Poor-performing contractors appointed by Roads Agency Limpopo had not been blacklisted for failing to do their job properly.
The Limpopo government is under fire for continuing to use incompetent contractors who previously failed to complete projects on time.
Responding to questions in the provincial legislature recently, Limpopo public works, roads and infrastructure MEC Ernest Rachoene conceded that poor-performing contractors appointed by Roads Agency Limpopo (RAL) had not been blacklisted for failing to do their job properly.
“Since the establishment of the panel of preferred contractors in the 2020-21 financial year, 601 contractors and consultants have been appointed, but 182 failed to meet the deadline,” he said.
Only one contractor was terminated for poor performance, while no action was taken against the failures of the 181 other companies, as they continued to do business with the government, he said.
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“None of these contractors was blacklisted. Only one service provider has been restricted.”
Rachoene did not say why he had not taken action against the other firms. The panel of preferred contractors and consultants is a supply chain system in which a group of prequalified companies are approved for projects.
It has been cited as a flop after the Road and Transport Portfolio Committee found that panel failures contributed R1.6 billion to irregular expenditure incurred by the agency in the 2023-24 financial year. The agency’s annual report said the entity’s irregular spending at the beginning of the 2023-24 financial year had increased from R6.8 billion to R8.6 billion at the end of March 2024.
Some contributing factors included the irregular appointment of service providers and spending on projects not included in the budget.
Action against poor-performing contractors
Marie Helm, DA Limpopo spokesperson for public works, roads and infrastructure, called on the department to ensure the poor-performing contractors face consequences or are blacklisted.
“The panel is not in accordance with the Supply Chain Management legislation.
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“There are seemingly no clear criteria from the panel for appointment of service providers and, according to the auditor-general, some construction contracts were awarded to contractors that did not qualify in accordance with section 18(1) of the Construction Industry Development Board Act and regulations 17 and/or 25(7A).”
Wayne Duvenage, CEO of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, said this gave rise to serious waste of taxpayers’ funds and was a sign of leadership lacking the skills to hold service providers and contractors accountable.
“Treasury’s restricted suppliers database is a powerful tool to prevent repeat offenders of poor service delivery or corruption from doing business with the government. Yet, department administrators and managers fail to exercise oversight responsibilities by not placing them onto the restricted supplier database, which prevents them doing business with the state again.”
Emmanuel Mongwe, a department spokesperson, did not respond to questions sent to him.
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