The controversial consulting company embroiled in an alleged 2010 stadium tender irregularity in Nespruit now faces a strike by its sub-contractors.
The sub-contractors working on the construction of the 2010 Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit have threatened to strike next week because they haven’t been paid R9-million due to them.
Lefika — the executive director of which, Bobby Motaung, is Kaizer Chiefs’s general manager and the son of club owner Kaizer — is the principal consultant responsible for the appointment, coordination and management of the professional team required to design, construct, supervise and commission the new stadium.
Platinum Sports Consulting was also appointed by the Mbombela municipality as a project manager to oversee the design, contract administration, supervision and commissioning.
The consultants appointed by Lefika who are set to go on strike are from Rand L Architects, SVR quantity surveyors, Goba Consulting Engineers (civil and structural engineers), Watson Matthew electrical engineers and VMG mechanical engineers.
There are also allegations by the municipality that Herman van Staden Land Surveyors has not been paid for the survey work it did at the stadium and that Grant Thornton, the company that compiled the Mbombela sports stadium business plan on behalf of Lefika, has not been paid in full, even though Lefika was paid for the same work in the first week of September 2006.
A senior official, who refused to named because he might be victimised at the Mbombela local municipality, told the Mail & Guardian that the strike would be a disaster — the biggest compared with other 2010 labour strikes that have taken place across the country.
”This would mean that no construction work will take place because contractors won’t have drawings and designs to work on and no one will be there to oversee the work done by the contractors,” said the official.
Lefika’s Bobby Motaung refused to comment.
He said: ”I cannot comment on the matter because Lefika has a chief executive officer who can do that, thank you.”
Neil Fourie of Platinum Sports Consulting said there had been tension between the consultants and Lefika for some time. ”It would be a very big blow if the consultants go on strike because everything will come to a standstill. We are hopeful that an agreement will be reached in the boardroom and [they will] not go on strike.”
The M&G has reliably learned that Lefika has written a letter to the Mbombela municipality requesting the final payment of about R5-million.
In response the consultants appointed by Lefika requested the municipality to hold the funds until they have been fully paid.
”They [Lefika] want to take the money and vanish because they know that if the consultants go the legal route it would take them months to get paid. The council set aside R107-million for the payments of consultants, but people are still greedy,” said the official.
It is alleged that Lefika has not paid some of its consultants since the beginning of construction work in April 2006 and was under serious cash flow constraints in December last year.
Tim Modise, spokesperson for the 2010 local organising committee, said he knew nothing about the payments issue.
”No one has brought it to our attention, but if the strike was to take place it would have major impact on our progress for 2010,” said Modise.
The allegations came days after the Fifa inspection team arrived in the country to check the progress made in Johannesburg, Tshwane, Rustenburg, Bloemfontein, Nelspruit and Polokwane. The venues inspected will host matches for the 2009 Confederations Cup, which will be a testing ground for the country’s readiness ahead of 2010.