Question NW1402 to the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation
23 July 2021 - NW1402
Powell, Ms EL to ask the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation
(1)Whether she will furnish Ms E L Powell with the details of the (a) tender advertisement, (b) bid adjudication recommendations and (c) contract awarded and conditions of the construction of Woodlands Housing Project in Ward 25, Msunduzi; if not, why not; if so, on what date; (2) whether she will furnish Ms E L Powell with the details of all other tender awards made to the contractor by the (a) national and/or (b) provincial departments of Human Settlements from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020?
Reply:
(1) Honourable Member, Msunduzi Local Municipality has advised that it advertised the tender referred to in the question on 17 March 2016 with a closing date of 7 April 2016. The tender briefing was held on 31 March 2016.
The Bid Adjudication Committee recommended a name of contractor which I am constrained and prohibited by the document titled “Guide to Parliamentary Questions in the National Assembly” from providing it to the Honourable Member. The document referred to states that:
“Questions are to be framed as concisely as possible. All unnecessary adjectives, references and quotations are omitted. Names of persons, bodies and, for example, newspapers are only used in questions if the facts surrounding the case have been proven. As the mere mention of such names could be construed as publicity for or against them, it should be clear that this practice is highly undesirable. If a question will be unintelligible without mentioning such names, the Departments concerned are notified of the name (-s) and this phrase is used: ".......a certain person (name furnished)”.
The contractor was appointed to undertake the Planning and construction of 216 houses in Woodlands under Operation Sukuma Sakhe (OSS) Programme. We have been informed that the contract was concluded on 17 September 2016 for eight (8) months.
Honourable Member, you would be aware that the National Department of Human Settlements does not build houses. This function is the responsibility of provinces and accredited Municipalities. Therefore, neither the National Department nor the KZN Provincial Department of Human Settlements had appointed the contractor referred to above, the municipality did.