Probe project delays – Outa

STOP GRAFT: CALL TO INVESTIGATE SCHEMES THAT RUN WELL OVER TIME OR BUDGET

- Masoka Dube

The nonprofit civil rights group, Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), is calling on relevant authorities to investigate why many government infrastructure development projects take so long to complete.

Outa was commenting on the Mpumalanga government's failure to complete the construction of Mapulaneng Hospital, which started in 2017.

The government is accused of failing to meet the deadline to complete the facility in June this year, while reportedly spending about R3 billion, instead of the original budget of R2.5 billion.

“Every single project that is not completed on time or runs well over budget should be investigated by the authorities, including the Treasury.

“If they did so, they would find the culprits and take action,” said Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage.

“But they are often incompetent and fail to fulfil their duty to defend the nation against this gross maladministration and corruption.”

Duvenage said corruption thrived in an environment of maladministration and usually overspending happened when the authorities failed to fulfil their oversight duties.

“More often than not, they deliberately look away and allow the overruns to happen and approve the weak excuses provided by the construction companies.