Five ministers later, Mamelodi East residents and surrounding areas are yet to see the completion of a multimillion rand court building that was promised to them by government.
Selaluke Mokoena, from Mamelodi East, said the situation was proof enough to display government’s forever unfulfilled promises made to citizens.
Mokoena said the court would have helped residents in the area as it would have been the closest, adding that it would also have saved them money for transport.
“Currently, if we want to go to court, we attend the one in Mamelodi West, and it’s always full there.
“One leaves here in the morning and you come back late in the afternoon. It’s, worse if they keep on postponing your case, because you have to go back there again using public transport,” he explained.
Mokoena said he was one of the community member who attended the meeting of Public Works Minister Sihle Zikalala had when the minister embarked on the department’s Siyahlola project.
“When the minister was here in November, he promised us that a new contractor would be appointed, and what not; telling us that the work would commence very soon.
“It’s not surprising that the construction has not yet begun; this is what they are known for after all.”
At the time, the minister visited the construction site in a bid to put systems in place to fast-track the development.
Zikalala told community members and journalist at the inspection that the department was unable to tell if the problems lay with the contractor or not.
He, however, seemed certain that there would be continuous engagements and that this would help him and all stakeholders to analyse the problem in order to identify its cause and then rectify it.
At the time, the presentation revealed that the R95 million project began in November 2007 with the appointment of the consultant.
The project was then divided into two phases – piling and building – with phase 1 being from 2008 to 2009 before the main building followed in 2012. However, the construction tender was only awarded in November 2013.
The work couldn’t start immediately as the legal process to consolidate the two construction sites had not been completed. This was also beset by delays.
The first delay was of about six months from November 2013 to May 2014.
The 30-month project then started after permission to build and occupy was granted.
According to reports, the project was initially supposed to be completed in May of 2016. But due to endless delays in handing over the site, completion was pushed back to November 2016, but the deadline was never met and the project remains incomplete.
In that statement released then, the DPWI admitted that construction had been plagued by challenges which had resulted in the unforeseen delays.
Attempts to get departmental spokesperson, Bukiwe Cimela, to comment on the situation proved unsuccessful by the time of going to print.
Saturday Star