FRIDAY, 11.00AM
FOUR Mpumalanga Housing Board members who testified before the first day of public hearings of provincial commission probing the R198-million Motheo rural housing project on Thursday said they had not heard of the company, and were not aware that they approved the project before it was launched earlier this year.
The four added that they regularly approved decisions already taken by their chairman, Saths Moodley, because it was impossible to read through all the documents presented to them at board meetings. Moodley resigned from his post after allegations of corruption and nepotism surrounding the Motheo project came to light.
The commission was also told that no board meetings this year had a quorum. The January 30 meeting, where Moodley insists the project was approved by the board, was attended by six of the board’s 14 members, which did not constitute a quorum. ”I was at the January 30 meeting where we approved the Motheo project, but the first time I heard Motheo’s name or anything about a rural housing project was much later, after it had already started,” said board member Peter Marks.
Another board member, Elsie Mthethwa said: ”I went home without knowing that I had approved a R198-million project, the biggest in South Africa.”
Board member Phillip Meyer said: ”It was quite impossible to read through everything given to us and also impossible to get a full picture of what was going on. We soon realised that issues were being bulldozed through the board. We were absolutely a rubber stamp — and not even of the executive committee, because I sat on that and the decisions were taken not even there.”
MEANWHILE, more than 200 small contractors and Moutse residents ignored heavy rain on Thursday and marched on the Moutse council in Mpumalanga to protest government’s handling Motheo scandal. The marchers, under the umbrella of the Affected Moutse RDP Housing Construction, Residents and Building Contractors Group, presented a two-page memorandum to the council, accusing Mpumalanga’s housing board, the national government and Motheo (Pty) Ltd of failing to consult communities properly before signing the contract and before approving the type of houses being built.