Zille & DA must act on stadium corruption
DA leader Helen Zille must come clean on the confessed corruption with massive tender rigging, collusion for kickbacks and price fixing with the Cape Town Stadium construction which was approved and built by the city council on her watch as mayor (see City Press report).
ANC chief whip in the Western Cape provincial legislature Pierre Uys says the people of the province demand something be done as their taxpayer money was admittedly misspent in one of the biggest corrupt projects ever in the Cape. The price for the 60 000 seat stadium escalated to R4,5 billion from the initial budgeted R2,9 billion and is still running at a loss of around R45 million per year.
"The ANC has repeated questioned why the budgeted stadium cost jumped by 60%. Various allegations were levelled and ignored. Therefore the tender process should be properly investigated for irregularities up to the award and construction of the stadium. It must also be established who benefitted from these tenders and were rewarded with bribes.
"The city's response is pathetic. To claim there was no problem with the tender is stupid, while there are already affidavits with the Hawks investigation unit admitting tender rigging. To wait till after the Competition Tribunal's decision is also not dealing with the facts and the cartel/consortium of construction companies implied.
"The burning question is: What is DA leader Helen Zille now doing about this? She and her party are quick to point fingers and call for investigations, but are happy to stand aside where the DA governs and wait for other investigative agencies to do the job. It is clear the problem goes beyond the subcontractors and what is now claimed by the DA (that the tender is beyond reproach). The tender needs to be probed thoroughly as to why consultants, advisers or staff did not pick it up first.
"The DA must also say whether it received any direct or indirect ‘donations' from the companies Murray & Roberts, WBHO or any other associated with the stadium or related projects," says Uys.
Statement issued by ANC Chief Whip Pierre Uys, February 4 2013
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