Chris McKenzie and Justin Arenstein
Mpumalanga’s new R630-million legislature is illegal and its construction has destroyed at least three protected plant species.
The controversial complex is almost complete, but it has still not been approved by the Nelspruit City Council or the national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.
Meanwhile, forensic investigators attached to the auditor general are in Nelspruit this week probing an irregular R120-million loan used to bankroll part of the development. Investigators believe that the loan scheme was abused by senior officials to hide a R4,8-million fraud scam.
“A special task team is in town questioning officials. They are making good progress,” said provincial Auditor General Douglas Maphiri.
Nelspruit City Council senior planner Susan Oosthuizen confirmed this week that provincial officials insisted they were exempt from normal building codes and regulations, and physically barred her building inspectors from the legislature construction site. She added that construction on the complex began at least one year before the site was formally rezoned from agricultural land to a township.
Legislature speaker William Lubisi’s new office also violates agreements with the Lowveld Botanical Garden. The government originally promised that the complex would not be visible and would not impact on the gardens. But the office is in fact two storeys higher than allowed and has encroached into the river in places.
The province also destroyed at least three protected plant species, seriously damaged a sensitive riparian forest and violated a flood-line restriction by building parts of the complex in the Nels river and driving construction pillars into its banks.
The building will only be ready for occupation next year, but the province has already been forced to erect temporary walls of grass bales to hold back flood water when three days of rain raised water levels 50cm.
Mpumalanga’s environmental affairs department officially objected when it realised the complex was built within the river’s flood plain, and that construction cut into the water table and destroyed protected vegetation.
A follow-up letter signed by department head Bandile Mkhize also warned that his national counterpart needed to approve all plans before construction began.
Officials stressed that environmental planning on the project was hopelessly inadequate and dismissed a contracted environmental report as unprofessional.
The University of Cape Town’s fresh water research unit warned on Thursday that ongoing climatic changes meant regional flooding was becoming more common.
“The old one-in-20 year flood lines may now actually be one-in-five year flood lines,” said unit director Jenny Day.
Provincial and local affairs legal adviser Morongwa Mothiba also stressed that provincial governments were legally obliged to meet all local municipal planning and building requirements. “The law is the law and no one is exempt. Building codes are there to protect the public and make sure that minimum safety and environmental standards are met,” said Mothiba.
The legislature complex has been dogged by controversy since its inception. It was originally launched as a build, operate and transfer model, which would have allowed the province to pay the building off over 20 years.
The Ministry of Finance objected to the scheme, however, pointing out that it would cost the taxpayer R868,7-million or R200-million more than necessary and would also force the province to take off-shore loans, which are technically illegal.
MEC for Public Works Steve Mabona has been unable to explain why it took Mpumalanga almost two years before the province’s executive council finally approved a normal budget for the building in April 1999.
Mabona was also in the firing line earlier this year following revelations about the expense of the complex’s lavish furnishing. He conceded that the contractors initially tried to award irregular contracts for imported office units that included chairs worth an estimated R12 000 each, but stressed that the province intervened and cancelled the deals before any money was lost.
Public works representative David Nkambule also refused to answer questions on concerns about an R18-million security surveillance contract built into the construction tender.
Security on the project has been controversial. Lead contractor Sivukile/Stocks & Stocks earlier this year hired South Africa’s largest vigilante organisation, Mapogo-a-Mathamaga, to guard the complex.
Mapogo is notorious for its heavy-handed mob justice and its members have faced several charges including murder, assault and torture.
“There are up to 2 000 people working on this site, and theft has reached sickening epidemic proportions. We agreed with our partners that it would be pro-active to bring Mapogo in if individuals are suspected of theft. They only play that role,” said Sivukile Stocks site manager Mark Vinjevold. He stressed the vigilantes had been removed following public outrage.
Maphiri meanwhile said the independent forensic auditors were investigating allegations that former Mpumalanga finance superintendent general Leon Botha was implicated in creaming off R4,8-million off the contentious R120-million investment scheme underwriting the project in 1997.
Maphiri said auditors would probe a “suspicious” 4% structuring fee on the R120-million investment with a consortium of brokers including the Board of Executors (BoE), Coronation Management and Profas (Pty) Ltd.
The structuring fee is unusually high and could not be explained by Botha, who facilitated the original technically irregular R100-million unit trust investment with Rand Merchant Bank’s asset management division in 1995 as part of a scheme to fund the complex.
The investment was made for five years despite explicit national Treasury instructions barring provinces from investing tax funds.
Botha has been unable to explain why the taxpayer had to pay a R3,1-million penalty when he prematurely terminated the investment in 1997, only to reinvest the money with the BoE consortium three months later.
Botha is currently Mpumalanga’s second most powerful civil servant, after being promoted to deputy director general of the province.