Still no one at work here
The provincial archives building in Potgieter Street is still standing empty, despite the department of sport, arts and culture's promise in February that people are actively working in the building.
POLOKWANE – The provincial archives building in Potgieter Street is still standing empty, despite the department of sport, arts and culture’s promise in February that people are actively working in the building.
Security personnel were stationed at the premises since March and the grass had been cut. There was one person who worked in the building for a period of time, but he had gone back to work at the department’s main building, according to security personnel at the building, who maintained that nobody was working there currently.
Construction to the building commenced on January 2007 without the plans being approved by the Polokwane Municipality. Several irregularities were picked up by the Auditor-General’s (AG) office, including a payment certificate issued irregularly and irregularities with the initial bidding process.
Work stoppages occurred from time to time as construction was halted due to late payments by the department of sport, arts and culture, who did not budget for the building.
Variation orders were also issued from time to time and it was found it would have cost 49% above the initial contract price to finalise the building in 2009.
In 2012, the AG found R39 million had been paid irregularly due to the contract being awarded in contravention of procurement processes. Unpaid invoices amounted to R7 million, of which an interest of more than R800 000 has accrued.
In February, the former contractor, Thabang Property Developers’ managing director, Edwin Tomes told Review he was still owed some money.
The building was still not used due to parts of the building experiencing infrastructural challenges that could lead to documents being damaged when it rained and networking challenges like the fact that no telephone lines and Internet cables were installed.
Mabakane Mangena, head of communications at the department of sport, arts and culture said it took a long time to finalise the construction and it has not yet been finalised yet. “This was due to budgetary constraints,” he said.
He said the administration process invoked in the province affected many projects, but discussions were currently underway to install cables for IT and telecommunication networks. “People cannot work when the environment is not yet ready,” Mangena said.
He said this building was one of the department’s priorities and the department was committed to get the building functional and working in the near future for the benefit of the province and its people.
