Gugu Mbonambi
A DURBAN businessman has launched a scathing attack on the eThekwini municipality for failing to pay him nearly R1 million for work completed over two years ago, saying this had crippled his business.
Richard Govender, a former Durban metro police officer who left the force several years ago, said his company, Pinetown Panel Beaters, had been doing work for the metro police for many years.
Govender said five metro police vehicles and a trailer had been brought to his shop in 2009. Although he had completed the work required, the vehicles had not been collected and he had not been paid.
“The cars were brought in with dents, scratches and rust. My understanding was that they needed to be refurbished for the 2010 World Cup,” he said.
Govender said he had served the municipality with a letter of demand in February last year for payment of R460 000, and gave the city 30 days to respond, but he did not received any correspondence from the city.
Failure
“I sent a second letter of demand to the municipality in March this year for the amount of R960 000, but they still did not respond,” he said.
Govender said that the municipality’s failure to pay him had crippled his company, and he had had to dismiss nine employees.
“I needed the money to pay for labour and for the material I bought to fix the cars,” he said.
Yesterday, metro police deputy head Steve Middleton told the municipal public accounts committee that a report from the city’s internal audit unit in August 2009 had highlighted mismanagement and irregularities in the repair and maintenance of metro police vehicles.
Middleton said the metro police had resolved to interview the manager within the department involved in the irregularities and to take action against the official.
“A decision was taken that all payments should be halted and the matter should be reported to the office of the ombudsman and the head of investigations,” he said.
Middleton said the matter was now in the hands of the city’s legal department and the ombudsman.
Metro police head Eugene Nzama said the internal audit unit had noticed that the budget for maintaining vehicles was running out too fast.
“We cannot touch the cars until the ombudsman and the legal department determine if we are getting value for money,” he said.
Nzama said disciplinary action had been taken against the metro police officer implicated in the matter and he had been dismissed. He said the officer was waiting for an arbitration date to appeal against his dismissal. The committee resolved that officials from the city fleet and legal departments should appear before them to clarify the matter.
