“The Durban Council MUST be satisfied with the work done by the contractor and that it was done correctly and completed so that they can be paid.”
This is how Mr. Musa Mbhele, the manager of Thekwini, responded when he elaborated on the current issue that has engulfed the council regarding non-payment of contractors.
He was speaking at a press conference in Durban recently.
“Before we pay, it must be that the contractors have done everything correctly. This helps a lot so that even when we answer to the agencies responsible for the management of taxpayers’ money, such as Scopa, MPAC and the Auditor, we can have answers and something concrete that everything was done well and we were all satisfied,” he said.
Mbhele continued with the topic that the contractors who end up having a conflict with the council are those who are not satisfied with their performance.
”I can only say that usually the contractors who usually have complaints about not being paid are those who leave us with questions about how they worked,” he explained.
The worst thing he said is that the failure of the contractor to do satisfactory work has forced the council to not pay.
He said the sad thing is that those who were still telling the truth revealed why they were not paid.
“Some of us end up going to court with them when there is a disagreement between us,” he said.
He said that usually the courts are in their favor, but he said that he cannot deny that sometimes it happens that they also complain.
In that he said there is nothing they can do except to follow the order of the court which is in favor of the contractor.
He gave an example that there is another company that they argued with until they reached the Constitutional Court and unfortunately they came and complained.
”If we lose in court, we don’t waste time, we just pay without any problem. This is proof that we do not refuse to pay our contractors, but we want to pay for the work that we see has been done well and we are all satisfied with it.”
He emphasized that in everything they do, they must be very careful that no money is wasted. Mbhele admitted that there are other problems that have engulfed the city.
He said that they are doing everything in their power to ensure that those problems are fixed as soon as possible.