The Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Infrastructure Development & Property Management is considering laying criminal charges against Officials of the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development & Property Management as well as the Contractor who were involved in the construction of a school on waterlogged area in Mayibuye, Tembisa.

The decision was taken during a joint Committee meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Education on Thursday, where Members of both Committees unanimously agreed on the move

The Committee is currently in the process of consulting the Legislature’s Legal team to ascertain the legalities of such a move. 

Both Committees further agreed that a letter should be written to Premier David Makhura to request that he institute an investigation that will lead to disciplinary actions taken against Officials who were responsible for overseeing the construction of the school.

The Committee made the shocking revelations during a visit at Mayibuye Primary School on 21 August 2020 as part of its oversight programme of assessing the standard and quality of work done by Contractors in Infrastructure Development projects in the Province.

The school

The multi-million rand school which was supposed to be occupied in 2017 stands as a white elephant after the Department failed to obtain an occupancy certificate due to the dangerous conditions in which the school was built in.

The Department has to date spend R82 000 000 on the school.

The Committee established that the school was constructed in contravention of the National Building Regulations and Building Standard Act 103, 1977 as Amended.

“In its assessment of the school, the Committee came to the conclusion that the occupancy of the school might be a death trap to learners and educators as the wetland has the possibility to weaken the building structure which might collapse on those occupying it,” the portfolio committee said in a statement.

This might leave government with only two options of spending more millions remedying the situation or demolishing the building as it is deemed dangerous for occupation and to avoid the building being used as a haven for criminals or illegal land invaders. 

This would mean that the millions of rands invested in the construction of the school has gone to waste.

As a result of not being occupied and neglected for over 3 years, the school structure continuous to deteriorate, with many defects such as collapsing ceiling, cracking tiles and walls as well as flooding water around the school to name a few.

Taking legal action

The Committee is of the view that appropriate action must be taken against those who were involved in the wastage caused by building a school on a waterlogged site.  Failure for appropriate action to be taken will signal a wrong message about the lack of accountability and consequence management in the Province.

“It is evident that the Contractor and the Department might have ignored geotechnical reports and quality control processes that could have exposed the site conditions and the prevention of any structure being erected on site,” read the statement

“It appears to be a case of profit being placed before the interest and lives of learners and educators and this should have never been allowed to happen. Greed and profit making seems to be at the centre of the reckless decision to continue construction while there were indications of the dangers of such actions.”

The school has left the community of Mayibuye hopeless and reverses the gains of the work the Gauteng Provincial Government has made in constructing state of the art schools in the Province that till today remains centres of excellence and beacons of hope in communities.