Letters from readers — Page 6
Bulletin
11 October 2013
Road construction at Sasekani resumed The construction of the seven kilometres controversial Sasekani/NkowaNkowa road at Mohlaba Cross resumed on Tuesday. The contractor, MacP Construction, abandoned the project early this year in protest to the project’s R20 million price tag, which he felt was too low. The contract was initially awarded to Markets Construction, but it landed the Greater Tzaneen Municipality in a court battle with Makapane Modipa, the managing director of MacP, who complained that proper adjudication processes were not followed in the awarding of the tender. GTM spokesman Neville Ndlala confirmed that the construction resumed, but he could
Pray for us, asks Zuma
not confirm whether the GTM had upped the contract price. He said, however, that all the disputes have been resolved and that nothing would disturb the project again. In response to Bulletin’s concern over a mechanic who operate under the bridge on the R71 road below Spur, Ndlala said: “The man is operating illegally and the GTM’s environmental officers have visited the area and the man has been instructed to leave. He added that they want to make sure that there are no oil spills in the area which will be harmful to motorists and the water of the Letaba River. —Michael Sakuneka michael@bulletin.us.com
MDM stops construction The construction of a multi-million Rand office block in Tzaneen for the Mopani District Municipality which started more than a year ago, has been stopped. The MDM brought everything in relation to the building to a halt, after it has been discovered that the contractor, whose name is known to the Bulletin, allegedly faked an insurance certificate which he presented to the MDM at the time of his appointment. One of the other reasons which led to the termination of the agreement is that the contractor did not perform up to expectations and his work was not up to standard. The R74 million contract was terminated in September last year.
The MDM came up with a plan to build the office block in the area, next to the disaster management centre, in order to relocate some of the departments from their current location in Giyani to Tzaneen — which according to some senior officials is much more central for the five local municipalities. Mr Neil Shikwambana, the MDM’s spokesman, said following the expulsion of the contractor, the tender was re-advertised to allow other builders with expertise to bid. However, the process has been stopped after the contractor had approached the Public Protector to declare a dispute and ask for intervention. — Michael Sakuneka michael@bulletin.us.com
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Eie praktyk Me Lizelle Pienaar, met ‘n meestersgraad in die regte, het haar eie praktyk in Tzaneen geopen. Sy het die afgelope paar jaar as aktevervaardiger by een van die ander regspraktyke in die dorp gewerk. Sy doen ook kommersiële werk en algemene regswerk. Pie-naar is bekend in kunskringe in Tzaneen en as sangeres in eie reg tree sy ook gereeld in enkelproduksies op.
Pres Jacob Zuma visited Mopani during the past week and during a church service asked church leaders to pray for political leaders to lead the country properly. Speaking at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Giyani on Sunday, Zuma hailed the church for the role it played in the areas of health and education. He condemned burning of tyres and looting during protests and said this portrayed the country as a chaotic state, and reflected a wrong and bad image. His remarks follow ugly scenes in Malamulele during recent protests to demand their own municipality. — LiN News/Limpopo Mirror
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In the photo above ministers of religion lay their hands on President Zuma after he had delivered his speech.