'Adverse findings' on Beitbridge fence procurement

Two months after holes started appearing in the hastily built northern border fence, they have multiplied – and some have grown big enough to drive a truck through, says a Sunday Times report. Thousands of Zimbabweans are now wading across the Limpopo every day, either to buy groceries from bakkies that drive through the fence to the river bank, or to seek their fortune in SA. The collapse of large sections of the R37m fence – hurriedly erected at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, ostensibly to curb the spread of the virus – comes as a report into its construction reached the desk of Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille. The report, compiled by Public Works anti-corruption investigators with Special Investigating Unit (SIU) assistance, will also go to Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu, who is conducting a separate inquiry into the procurement of the Beitbridge fence. A senior Public Works official close to the internal investigation reportedly said: ‘The report makes adverse findings on the planning and execution of the project, which constitutes irregular expenditure.’ De Lille's spokesperson, Zara Nicholson, said the fence contract was being investigated by the Public Works anti-corruption unit and Makwetu, emphasising that there was no official SIU probe. So far, the contractor has been paid R21m. ‘All further payments to the contractor have stopped pending the outcome of the investigations,’ she said.