Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

3-minute read
27 September 2023 | 15:39 CAT

SIU probes Rooiwal treatment plant tender. Photo: ActionSA

The Special Investigations Unit has proclaimed an investigation into the R295-million Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Tender. The decision has been claimed as a victory for ActionSA, who submitted their findings from the Commission of Inquiry into the Hammanskraal water crisis.

This comes more than a year after ActionSA submitted to the SIU findings from the Commission of Inquiry into the Hammanskraal water crisis, which affected many.

The report exposed that the City of Tshwane violated the Municipal Systems Act by failing to provide residents with safe drinking water and other services.

According to ActionSA Gauteng Provincial Chairperson Funzi Ngobeni, The Tshwane Municipality has looked the other way for nearly two decades as citizens struggled to access clean and consumable water, subjecting them to hardship and horrible living conditions.

“Based on the evidence gathered in the inquiry commissioned in 2021, it was suggested that the tender was corruptly awarded to two companies owned by Edwin Sodi, who was inexperienced and unqualified to lead the refurbishment of Phase 1 of the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Works,” states ActionSA.

The SIU must now investigate all allegations of irregular conduct by Tshwane Municipality employees or any person awarded a tender that was unfairly and unlawfully utilised.

Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink has continued to call for criminal charges against the tenderpreneurs who’ve unlawfully benefitted from this project.

He insists that the SIU’s probe will help eliminate corrupt officials in the metro’s supply chain management division.

Meanwhile, Hammanskraal residents continue to rely on tankers for clean drinking water.

Listen to the full interview with Moulana Muhammed Kara on Your World Today.