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His plan opened the floodgates of alleged procurement irregularities, with more than R500m spent in just three months (January, February and March 2011) in a rush to exceed the financial year-end cap.
In January, the provincial department paid 149 million rand. It then spent R220m in February, before closing the financial year with prepayments amounting to R170m in March.
Mokhesi conceded that this was an unorthodox way of doing things, particularly that the companies that won the bid were selected without an open bidding process.
As for the work, it was of poor quality, as the suppliers and contractors did what they wanted and were not delivered correctly, as they were paid before construction was resumed.
“In a standard contract, the contractor is responsible for purchasing material and turning that material into a product that is the foundation of the houses and only then can they claim, but that did not happen in this case,” Mokhesi said. “The construction materials were not delivered and in the cases in which they were delivered it was not in the amounts required or paid.
“This is what we are up against. The certification of the material never happened. When it happened, it was to a very lesser extent ”.
Mokhesi will continue to testify on Tuesday.
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