Uitenhage businessman Nceba Gomomo is the latest to come forward and accuse Eastern Cape health department infrastructure boss Mlamli Tuswa of interfering in Coega tenders.
Gomomo is embroiled in a five-year dispute with Coega over what he said was a R145m debt owed to him for work done and additional damages to his company due to nonpayment over the years.
His company, Maxima Global, was hired by Coega in May 2012 to access and manage the repairs of clinics and hospitals in the Amathole region.
The contract was extended by a further 10 months, only to be terminated by Coega shortly thereafter in July 2013.
In his arbitration document, Gomomo claimed that the contract had been terminated at the same time he refused to accept an instruction from Tuswa and two other Coega officials to hire Yakha Engineering.
The alleged instruction from Tuswa came after a previous contract to maintain boilers had expired in July 2013 with the public works department.
This resulted in the department of health requesting Coega to step in.
Work in relation to the expired contract had been previously done by Yakha Engineering. Tuswa did not comment on the allegations put to him.
“Why is it that [you] single out my name in the affidavit by Gomomo, whereas other official’s names from [Coega] are contained?
“Why are [you] not asking the reasons why this matter went to arbitration and to date remains unresolved?” he said in a text message.
Coega said the nature of the contract was such that its officials were within their rights to advise Gomomo to appoint certain sub-contractors.
In the document, Gomomo claims that in July 2013, he was “instructed by Tuswa to appoint Yakha Engineering as the service provider to attend all work relating to boilers on the project”.
“The instruction was again repeated by Lamkelo Mdingi and Zuko Mqhatu, who are both officials of [Coega].
“Shortly thereafter, Gomomo was contacted by Monwabisi [Twatwa] who claimed to be representing Yakha Engiand was calling regarding the engagement of Yakha Engineering as per the socalled ‘mandate’ issued by the department of health and Coega,” the statement reads.
Twatwa, who is a personal friend of Tuswa, said he had never spoken to Gomomo about the tender and had resigned from Yakha Engineering as early as 2011 – two years before the alleged instruction.
In his statement, Gomomo said the instruction was unlawful, unreasonable and contrary to proper procurement process.
He said he opposed the instruction because his company was duly elected to do all the work.
In its responding papers, Coega said the termination of its contract with Gomomo had nothing to do with his refusal to appoint Yakha.
The agency said Gomomo’s company had failed to meet its obligations.
Coega spokesperson Ayanda Vilakazi said the contract with Maxima Global had been cancelled for various reasons.
This included offering poor services, failure to pay sub-contractors after receiving money from the agency and incomplete invoices being submitted.
“A joint meeting was held between Coega, Maxima Global and the department of health on June 21 2013 aimed at apprising health officials as various healthcare facilities were increasingly complaining about poor service by Maxima Global.
“Following this meeting, Maxima Global made changes but failed to address the requirements,” Vilakazi said.
On the allegation of instructions from Coega officials, Vilakazi said: “Insofar as the agency is concerned, actions undertaken by [Mdingi and Mqhatu] were within their area of responsibilities for the programme.”
Speaking to The Herald, Mdingi – who now works for the department of health – denied giving Gomomo an instruction, saying he had merely suggested that Yakha Engineering be hired.
“We suggested a previous company that had worked on the boilers before.
“It was a suggestion to remedy a particular situation at the time,” he said.
“It was never an instruction but a suggestion to get assistance from a company that was knowledgeable.”
The arbitration in May 2014 was eventually called off by Gomomo shortly before a decision was to be made.
“This entire saga has bankrupted me. It killed my entire vision of building a competitive business in the sector,” Gomomo said.
Weeks ago, through his lawyers, he asked Coega for an out-of-court settlement for the money owed to him.
“Since we started this matter, we wanted to resolve it humanly,” he said.
“We have been writing to Coega over the years to do just this even though it has bankrupted me.
“However, should this fail in the next seven days we will go through the arbitration again and even the court.”
Tuswa is undergoing a disciplinary hearing in the health department for alleged bribery after a Mthatha businessman claimed that Tuswa and former Coega official Gift Honi had requested a bribe in exchange for contracts.
In a sworn statement being investigated by the Hawks, Nkoliso Flatela, chief executive of Zamazondo Construction, admitted to paying a R50,000 bribe to Honi, gifting a Toyota Fortuner to a friend of Tuswa’s and also employing the same man on a monthly salary of R30,000.
Honi has denied the allegation.