KZN MEC's husband linked to another murky water deal

A company linked to the husband of a KwaZulu-Natal MEC has been awarded a R33-million tender to install water pipes in the province.

Durban-based Afriscan Construction - with connections to Sibusiso Ncube, husband of local government MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube - has been appointed the main contractor for the bulk water-supply project, worth a total of R1.3-billion, for the uMkhanyakude district municipality.

This is the same municipality in which another of Ncube's companies, Sinosa Construction, was given a questionable multimillion-rand contract to supply water pipes.

Mhlathuze Water Board CEO Sibusiso Makhanya defended giving the contract to Afriscan, saying it was "awarded fairly" to a "big company" that had experience in this kind of work.

Dube-Ncube's spokesman, Lennox Mabaso, said this week that Dube-Ncube launched a forensic investigation into water affairs at uMkhanyakude in August last year.

The company leading the probe, Integrated Forensic Services, was tasked with checking alleged irregularities in the provision of water supplies to communities, alleged cases of sabotage to water infrastructure and water losses, among other things.

"The municipality provided extensive documentation, which has been analysed, and further questions have been asked. The investigation has entered the final stages," said Mabaso.

On Friday, Ncube provided documents showing he had resigned as director of Afriscan on November 29. This was just three weeks before the Mhlathuze Water Board awarded Afriscan the R33-million contract to work on the water pipeline and reservoir .

Ncube said he had cut all ties with Afriscan, which has won contracts totalling R135-million since the Jozini-Ingwavuma water project started six years ago.

Last week, the Sunday Times reported that hundreds of water pipes, worth more than R150-million, were left in open veld in Jozini near the border with Swaziland and Mozambique. They were "delivered" more than a year ago by Ncube's Sinosa Construction and another company, Hall Longmore.

Sinosa was paid R69-million and Hall Longmore R76-million for contracts that the auditor-general found, in 2012, to have been awarded without following competitive bidding processes.

Both companies said they had been merely required to source and deliver the pipes.

This week, Mabaso led the Sunday Times on a tour of the district. It was aimed at proving that construction work had already started to deal with the crisis affecting the largely rural municipality - in which only 20% of the 600000 people living there have piped water in their homes.

The tour followed an urgent meeting on Tuesday between a team of officials dispatched by Dube-Ncube's department to uMkhanyakude after the Sunday Times report.

Mabaso said the Jozini pipes would be used as part of a 200km pipeline that would run from Jozini Dam. The uMkhanyakude municipality, he said, had saved tens of millions of rands by buying the pipes because "if they had been bought now, they would have cost a lot more because of cost escalations".

"Because the awarding of the tenders for the pipes was questioned by the auditor-general, we're investigating how these contracts were awarded."