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Mbombela Stadium
| Date: |
06 June 2010 07:00 |
| Producer: |
Susan Purèn
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| Presenter: |
Bongani Bingwa
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| Researcher: |
Susan Comrie
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| Show: | Carte Blanche |
The Mbombela stadium stands proud against the Mpumalanga sky, supported by orange pylons that resemble giraffes.
It was built on farmland just outside Nelspruit at a cost of R1.3-billion - way over the R875-million budgeted.
But it was also built on scandal, malpractice and murder.
Bongani Bingwa (Carte Blanche presenter): 'There's a hive of activity here as workers put the finishing touches to this magnificent stadium. Its unique design is thought to dazzle soccer fans as part of the World Cup extravaganza. But behind the scenes is an intricate web of deceit, corruption, political assassination and unfulfilled promises.'
Jimmy Mohlala, speaker of the Mbombela Council, which governs Nelspruit, was the first to blow the whistle on corruption.
It cost him his life.
An unknown gunman shot him dead outside his home last year. Jimmy had been instrumental in exposing tender irregularities connected to constructing the stadium.
Among the crowd at his funeral was Lassy Chiwayo, Mbombela's Executive Mayor.
Bongani: 'Was he assassinated?'
Lassy Chiwayo (Executive Mayor: Mbombela Municipality): 'Look, the incident, you know, that happened on that fateful day in his own home... to me it's nothing but an execution, owing to the stance he took, especially around the investigation of 2010-related tenders. So, my belief to date has been that he was assassinated.'
Bongani: 'The threats did not stop with his death though, did they?'
Lassy: 'No, they didn't. We also got telephone threats on a number of occasions before the ANC conference and after. At some stage I was told I must keep quiet, otherwise I'll go to Witbank in a coffin.'
Bongani: 'What exactly was Jimmy Mohlala's case against 2010 tenders?'
Lassy: 'He believed that, you know, there were irregularities around the awarding of the tenders.'
Bongani: 'Such as?'
Lassy: 'The stadium and all related work around it.'
Bongani: 'This report [shown on screen] by Nkosi-Ngobe Attorneys contains the information that Jimmy wanted exposed. It alleges that key people were seconded to Mbombela Municipality, expressly to ensure that certain companies got tenders.'
Jacob Dladla, the former municipal manager, was later charged and found guilty on allegations made in the report. He was dismissed last year.
At the centre of the allegations is Kaiser Chiefs general manager, Bobby Motaung's company, Lefika Emerging Equity.
Lefika was allegedly paid R43-million before work even began and without the approval of the Mbombela municipality.
Bobby Mataung did not respond to our requests for an interview.
Lassy: 'We came across an organised syndicate within the institution and outside... individuals that capitalised on positions of authority and power for self-interests.'
At the heart of the corruption allegations was an alleged attempt to defraud the owners of the land on which the stadium has been built.
In 2003 the land was given back to the Mduli clan, forcibly removed to the Kangwane Homeland during the apartheid years.
89-year-old Phineas Mduli instituted the land claim in the 1990s.
Phineas Mduli (Beneficiary.: Matsafeni Trust): 'The government acknowledges that it is my property. We had a huge celebration. We slaughtered cows. They also handed me the deed to the property.'
Part of the land restitution deal was the inclusion of the residents of Skomplaas, a settlement close to the stadium.
Lucito Dlamini is one of them.
Lucito Dlamini (Resident: Skomplaas): 'The whole of the community were happy about this stadium, knowing that we are going to benefit. But at the end of the day we didn't benefit anything.'
Bongani: 'Who do you blame for all of this?'
Lucito: 'Everybody who is leading us. From province, region, branches, whatsoever - I'm blaming almost everybody, because these are the ones who failed the community.'
Government paid R60-million for the almost 6 000 hectares of land. Since that happened in 2003, a lot has changed. South Africa got the World Cup and Nelspruit needed a soccer stadium.
And with that came corruption, greed and infighting.
Phineas: 'This land is my land. They should inform me about everything they do here. They should tell me what they're doing, but they didn't tell me anything.'
What made things worse was that the Matsafeni Trust, which manages the farm, was not set up properly, says human rights lawyer, Richard Spoor.
Richard Spoor (Human rights lawyer): 'The Trust Deed says the beneficiaries are the people listed in Schedule A. There was no Schedule A. So we had a trust; we had trustees who were running this trust, but no beneficiaries, which meant no annual AGM, no elections, no members to give account to, no members to vote. And therefore a trust where there was no accountability whatsoever.'
Officials allegedly coerced the trustees into selling 120 hectares of the land for just one rand, without the knowledge of the community, the lawful owners.
Richard: 'So, the idea was we sell 120 hectares to the municipality... The municipality uses 40 hectares for the stadium, but grants development rights for the whole 120 hectares, and then transfers 80 hectares back to a business entity incorporating the trustees and some significant local business interests. Clearly, the intention was to secure 80 hectares of valuable development land for free.'
Bongani: 'When the community realised what had happened, the municipality offered them employment at the construction site and a 50% stake in all subcontracts. But the construction company, Basil Read, objected because the community had neither skills nor capacity.'
So, in 2007, they turned to Richard.
Richard: 'The municipality though and provincial government had got in at this stage and said, 'We are just unwilling to enter into any agreement to that effect.' And instead, what they did was they proceeded to try and force through the transfer of the land.'
Richard approached the courts and got an interdict halting the land transfer and replacing the Board of Trustees.
Meschak Silinda was one of the new trustees.
They negotiated a new deal with the municipality.
Meschak Silinda (Trustee: Matsafeni Trust): 'We said this whole issue of a one rand deal is not good for the outside world. Let this land be purchased in terms of valuations.'
Lassy: 'Eventually we all agreed we had to sort that matter out - we bought that piece of land.'
But once again, there was nothing in writing. It was all based on promises - promises of water, sanitation and electricity for Skomplaas, and a market-related price for the land.
Bongani: 'So what is the deal with the stadium? How much did the municipality pay for the land on which it is built? And right now, whose land is it anyway? Well, that depends very much on whom you speak to.'
Meschak: 'We own that land.'
Lassy: 'This piece of land belongs to the party that bought it.'
Richard: 'The trust is going to get six or seven million rand.'
Meschak: 'It has been bought for a purchase price...'
Bongani: 'Of how much?'
Meschak: 'Of R8.7-million.'
Lassy: 'We purchased it for R14-million - one four million.'
Phineas: 'This is my land. It's not somebody else's land.'
Richard: 'This billion rand stadium is built on - built with State money - is built on the trust's land.'
Meschak: 'Yes, that is true. Remember, ownership only passes on transfer.'
In October last year, unrest broke out when the children of Skomplaas prevented workers from entering the site.
Their objection...?
... The construction company had taken over their schools as offices and moved them to pre-fabricated buildings.
There was mayhem - rubber bullets flew and vehicles were set alight.
The riots seemed to work.
Although these pre-fab buildings still house the school, a modern one is being built by the province, a kilometre down the road.
Mbombela Mayor Lassy Chiyao blames the province for the delay.
Lassy: 'It would not be right to just defend without acknowledging the slow pace at which government machinery grinds. It took Mpumalanga provincial government over a year to respond to a commitment they have made. I was not part of that commitment to build the school.'
There are signs that Skomplaas may soon have electricity, but it still has pit latrines and shoddy roads, even though it's a stone throw away from the world class stadium
Drinking water is supplied through what look like irrigation pipes, but when they're not running dry, the water is in fact discoloured.
Bongani: 'When you get water, it comes out of this pipe?'
Lucito: 'Yes, you can drink it thinking that it's a juice [because it is discoloured].'
Bongani: 'With the stadium now completed it's almost impossible to get those who enriched themselves on a massive scale through corruption and greed penalised. It's unlikely the long arm of the law will ever catch up with them. But what is clear is that the ratepayers of the Mbombela municipality will have to fork out the millions in debt that has been left behind.'
Richard: 'The end result is a disaster. Their plans to get rich have been thwarted, the community's hopes for development have been frustrated. The stadium is up, but none of the infrastructure, none of the things around it are in place. We are paying the price for incompetence, greed and corruption. South Africa is paying that price.'
And when Mbombela's first world cup match kicks off between Chile and Honduras on Youth Day, June 16, some may think of Jimmy Mohlala who paid the ultimate sacrifice to expose corruption.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:While every attempt has been made to ensure this transcript or summary is accurate, Carte Blanche or its agents cannot be held liable for any claims arising out of inaccuracies caused by human error or electronic fault. This transcript was typed from a transcription recording unit and not from an original script, so due to the possibility of mishearing and the difficulty, in some cases, of identifying individual speakers, errors cannot be ruled out.
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