A Facebook post showing an SMME forum leader and his daughter flashing a large stack of cash sparked a protest outside the Port Elizabeth City Hall on Monday, with some business owners claiming he was living large while they were yet to be paid for cleaning drains in December.
Close to 100 business owners gathered in the morning in front of the city hall in the hope of getting Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Mongameli Bobani and economic development boss Anele Qaba to resolve the payment issues.
The SMME owners claim that Black Business Caucus coordinators Lithemba Singaphi and Baba Ningi paid themselves millions of rand meant for them.
Both Ningi and Singaphi have vehemently denied the allegations.
In December, 945 SMMEs were allocated work packages – totalling R21m – following a council decision.
There had only been 600 SMMEs initially but this was increased to 945 as more signed up for the work packages.
The municipality used two Bay companies – Finecorp and JK Structures, which were already on its supply database and had existing contracts with the city for drain-cleaning work – to manage and pay the SMMEs.
In Port Elizabeth, an SMME owner, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals, said the post of Ningi flashing the money was shared widely at the weekend, prompting them to protest.
“He suddenly has all this money. Where does this money come from? We have not been paid for the work we did,” she said.
Marc Prince, an SMME owner from Ward 32, said he was meant to receive R30,000 but had received nothing as of Monday.
“We were promised to be paid before Christmas but we’ve received nothing yet.
“The whole reason they called them ‘Christmas packages’ was because they had promised to pay us by December 25.”
Another SMME owner alleged: “The SMME leadership took that money. Look at that Facebook post.
“They are flashing all that money. That is our money.”
In the post, Ningi is seen sitting alongside a young girl who is holding a thick wad of cash.
A part of the post reads: “The R21m [that] was supposed to reach the bank accounts of SMMEs did not reach the hardworking SMMEs of PE.
“This is Baba Ningi who paid himself R2m. He is the chairperson of the SMMEs.”
Singaphi is also accused of taking R2m in the post. It is not clear who posted the message.
Speaking outside the Uitenhage Town Hall, where Ningi and Singapi addressed hundreds of SMMEs on Monday afternoon, Ningi said his company had only received R28,000 for cleaning drains.
Responding to the images of money on Facebook, Ningi said his daughter had taken the picture in September.
“That money was for my brother’s cow.
“My brother died almost 10 years ago and I bought the cow for a ceremony,” he said.
“I didn’t notice that my daughter took the picture.
“I didn’t even know she had Facebook because she’s still young and that was a lot of money,” Ningi said. “If I paid myself R2m I wouldn’t live in an RDP house in Chatty.”
In an attempt to ascertain if his daughter had posted the image on her Facebook account in September, a Herald reporter searched for the girl’s account – in Ningi’s presence – but it was closed off to everyone but her friends.
Asked if he could access the post, Ningi said he was not familiar with social media.
Ningi said they had established from the Uitenhage meeting on Monday that only 63 people had not been paid as they had inactive bank accounts.
Singaphi said a lot of the companies that had demanded to be paid were not even part of the work package deal.
He confirmed his company was paid R13,950 for cleaning drains but said the claims of him receiving R2m were fake.
“It is fake news. Someone has taken old posts and made it look like we are living a life of luxury.”
Qaba said one of the main contractors had said there were only about 10 companies that were not paid .
“There are those who were not paid due to their bank accounts being inactive and the payments were rejected.”
He said the municipality used Finecorp and JK Structures to manage the work.
The SMME forum leadership provided the list with the names and profiles of the companies that had to work on the drain-cleaning project.
“They [JK Structures and Finecorp] were already appointed through the supply chain management process.
“They had existing contracts to clean drains and storm-water pipes.”
Qaba said before a payment was made by the municipality, the two companies had to provide the necessary evidence that work was completed.
“They also had to provide before and after pictures as a portfolio of evidence.
“Those were some of the verification tools used. When other people heard about the project being approved by council, they jumped onto the bandwagon, which led to the number of SMMEs increasing from 600 to more than 1,200.”
He said it was then decided by the SMME operators that the work packages would be halved.
“It must be noted that the amount allocated was not going to accommodate all the SMMEs in the city.
“Even with the 945 accommodated, there was still more that could not be accommodated if one takes into consideration the total number of SMMEs that sought to benefit was more than 1,200.”
A woman, who addressed the SMME operators and did not want to be named, said her husband was upset because she had spent December attending meetings and working without receiving a cent.
“Our children did not go to school this year because we have not been paid,” she said.
“We want answers which is why we’re here.”
Another SMME owner, who also did not want to be named, said there were more than 100 companies that still needed to be paid.
“The consultants [Finecorp and JK Structures] must give us a list of all the people paid along with the company profiles.
“You will find a lot of these businesses were registered in December. I wonder if they even did the work.”
A third SMME owner, who also declined to be named, said they had started compiling a list on Monday of all the people who had not been paid.
“We are then going to go back to the contractors to demand the payments owed to us.”
Bobani said the municipality had done everything that it should have and had followed all legal processes and there was nothing more it could do to assist the SMME owners.
“If people have queries with payments, they must consult the contractors appointed by the municipality. On our side, there’s nothing we can do.”
JK Structures owner Cameron Klopper did not respond to telephone calls or text messages sent to him.
A receptionist at Finecorp refused to supply a cellphone number for company owner Justin Carelson.