New ‘competent contractor’ to be appointed to complete ‘white elephant’ Refilwe stadium

A third contractor, cited as being more ‘competent’ than the previous two, will wrap up the refurbishment of Refilwe Stadium in Cullinan.

The ‘White Elephant’ stadium was allocated a budget worth R80 million in 2013, however construction dragged on for almost 11 years, leaving the budget standing at R8.5 million.

According to Tshwane Community and Social Development Service Nasiphi Moya the stadium is 95% complete while completion of the project might require an additional R11.5 million injection.

Moya said the previous contractors had been terminated due to poor performance and failure to fulfil contractual obligations.

She believed that a competent service provider who was financially sound would complete the outstanding 5% work on the stadium within six months.

Moya said the new contractor however still needed to be vetted.

“Control measures such as critical path will be strictly managed and monitored to ensure the project is completed within the time, cost and quality. The Internal Enterprise Project Management Unit will also be deployed to assist the department in completing the project within the prescribed timelines and budget.”

“When the second contractor was terminated, the project was at 95% completion with a remaining contract amount of R8.5 million.”

“However, because the rates in the contract were rated in 2015, It is estimated that the outstanding work will [cost a total of] R20 million taking into consideration the current rate.”

According to her, the first joint contractors appointed in 2013 to build the stadium had conflicts among themselves in the first six months of their appointment.

“The fighting affected the progress of the project. The city tried to mediate, but that couldn’t assist until one partner withdrew from the joint venture.”

She said the city was left with no choice but to terminate the contract, which caused some delays.

Moya said in 2018 the project was fully capacitated in terms of resources such as a full team of consultants and contractor.

“Sadly in 2019 to early 2020 the whole world was hit by covid-19 pandemic that also caused delays to the project as numerus extension of time were granted due to the pandemic.”

Moya said unfortunately the appointed second contractor failed to execute the project as per the contractual obligation due to financial challenges.

“The revised completion dated after the approval of extension of time the practical completion date was March 31 last year. Due to poor performance project didn’t reach the practical completion on the said date,” Moya told Rekord.

She said the city terminated the services of the contractors and a forensic investigation into the project was being initiated to identify any possible wrongdoing by those involved.

Moya said depending on the results of the forensic investigation, the contractor could face blacklisting.

This was revealed during her oversight visit to Region 5 last March 15 to Refilwe Stadium.

“This investigation will encompass the procurement process, project management practices and recommendations to prevent similar occurrences in future projects,” Moya added.

She said the purpose of the visit to Refilwe stadium was to gain insights into the remaining work required for its completion.

She added that efforts were underway to complete the final stages of the project.

“It was encouraging to note that these facilities are readily accessible to the community, shaping a promising future within our infrastructure. The city of Tshwane remains committed to the upkeep and maintenance of community infrastructure to ensure they serve their intended purpose for the benefit of the residents,” Moya said.

“We want Refilwe residents to know we are fighting for them and if there’s one thing I can provide to them, it will be this stadium. So we have to fight the good fight and apologize to this community because this is uncalled for, especially because they had a facility and we took it away for 11 years.”

The Refilwe Stadium is said to boast a 3 000-capacity grandstand, a soccer pitch, clubhouse and gym fully equipped with showers.

It also consists of an athletics track, changing rooms, parking, internal roads, walkways for pedestrians, storage rooms, a guard house and offices.

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