One of the central players in the arms deal saga has been threatened with a million-rand law suit — for allegedly not paying a contractor who renovated his multimillion-rand Durban beach house.
Durban construction firm Design Projects alleges Fana Hlongwane, chairperson of arms company Ngwane Defence and former adviser to the late defence minister Joe Modise, owes it R920Â 758 for the upgrading of his holiday house in the luxury Zimbali Coastal Resort, north of Durban.
Hlongwane, through his quantity surveyor on the project, Gert Meyer, said this week he was not paying because of ‘non-performance and very bad workmanshipâ€.
Design Projects director Simon T’Hart believes the house, owned by Hlongwane’s company, Zimbali Property Investment, is worth about R50-million.
According to T’Hart Hlongwane contracted him in June 2006 for R1,1-million to build a new cigar room and gym and to renovate the patio and main bedroom.
The rest of the contract, awarded to other contractors, included the replacement of timber decks, new double-glazed soundproof windows, new marble floors and repainting the house. ‘Everything in the house changed,†says T’Hart.
According to T’Hart things turned sour after 18 months when Hlongwane visited the property and indicated that he was not happy with the renovations. He says Hlongwane had undertaken to provide him with a ‘snag list†of all the faults in the house within 30 days, but had failed to do so.
‘He put one of his friends on the project to complete it, then they had a dispute and now the work is still standing. I have offered to complete the project for him, but the only words that come from Mr Hlongwane are swear words,†T’Hart says.
Meyer, however, tells a different story. He says Hlongwane appointed his company ‘principal agent†on the project, which must issue payment certificates before Hlongwane pays contractors.
‘During the contract the principal agent issued 15 payment certificates [including to Design Projects] which were duly paid. No payment certificate was issued after that.â€
Meyer says that after inspecting Design Projects’ work, Meyer gave T’Hart a ‘snag listâ€.
‘I then did a few inspections and his workmanship did not improve. After I instructed him to cease his operations and leave the site, we had to employ others to complete the work,†Meyer says.
T’Hart disputes this, insisting Meyer was ‘chased off the site†by Hlongwane after he was unhappy with the renovations: ‘He said Gert [Meyer] was not in charge of the site anymore — he [Hlongwane] was.â€
Hlongwane subsequently employed another contractor to complete the work and payments to Design Projects dried up.
T’Hart then decided to contact Hlongwane directly for the money.
The Mail & Guardian reported in March that Hlongwane, who keeps a low public profile, might be a subject of the Scorpions’ new investigation into South Africa’s purchase of jet trainers and fighter jets from British arms giant BAE and Sweden’s Saab.
Britain’s Serious Fraud Office, also probing the deal, revealed that BAE agreed to pay an annual retainer of £1-million to Hlongwane in 2002 and a ‘settlement†of $8-million in 2005 ‘in relation to work done on the Gripen [fighter jets] projectâ€.