[ad_1]
PHOTO: Felix Dlangamandla / Gallo Images
- The Hawks have made arrests in connection with the construction of a temporary tin shelter settlement in Limpopo.
- A businesswoman, a HDA official and a company face fraud charges.
- The project, which built 40 tin shelters at a cost of R2.4 million, caused outrage for its cost and labor.
The owner of a business that built a “Covid-19 shack settlement” in Talana on the outskirts of Tzaneen, Limpopo, and a high-ranking member of the Housing Development Agency (HDA) were arrested on fraud charges for the Hawks at Polokwane on Thursday.
News24 understands that the owner, who cannot be identified at this time, was telephoned by the Hawks in the morning and told to report to their offices, but initially did not comply.
Members of the Hawks then went home to an upscale section of the suburb of Sterpark, known colloquially as “Tenderpark.”
However, they were told that she was not there and later notified that she had shown up at the Hawks’ offices.
They found her on the office steps with her husband, and they read her her legal rights before they told her to remove her wedding ring and watch, and then handcuffed her.
READ | Temporary tin shelters: Limpopo prime minister blames human settlements department
The Hawks members then arrested the HDA official, who was based in the offices of the Provincial Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, who was the implementing agent for the Talana settlement.
Hawks provincial spokesman Captain Matimba Maluleke later told the media: “We have detained the director of the company that was awarded the tender and the director of the HDA project. We have also detained a third person who is a legal entity. “. [the company that was awarded the tender]. “
He said they faced multiple fraud charges and were expected to appear in Polokwane Magistrates Court on Monday.
Maluleke said the arrests followed demands for an investigation after a “protest.”
However, he was reluctant to speak about the correlation between the Hawks’ investigation and that of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) into the matter.
It also declined to release details of an investigation into another “Covid-19 shack settlement” in Burgersfort, the construction of which according to News24 was awarded to the same company.
At the peak of the pandemic, the National Department of Human Settlements and Water Affairs had ordered the construction of temporary shelters for vulnerable people living in inhumane conditions.
More than 40 tin shelters were built in Talana at a cost of R64,000 each and Prime Minister Stan Mathabatha cut a ribbon at the then much celebrated event.
Later, authorities described the multi-million dollar project as flawed, prompting a nationwide outcry and an investigation by the Hawks and the SIU.
