Hundreds of Bakgatla to sue Council
Tefo Pheage | Tuesday August 9, 2016 18:00
The residents, who have formed a committee of 10 members operating under the name Balli (the aggrieved), say they are angered by the fact that both the council and the contractor Monamodi Madille, do not want to own up to their mistakes but are rather ‘playing blame games’.
The group says it has written a series of letters to the council but to no avail.
Morgan Kgetse, the group’s chairman, told Mmegi that the matter began around 2008/9 when the council built some internal roads in Mochudi, known as the Mochudi Infrastructure Project Phase II.
“The project left our houses with huge cracks and damages. The council and the contractor are throwing us from pillar to post after we were promised compensation and it has been five years now. “The answers we are getting are not satisfactory,” he said, adding that should the status quo prevail they will sue the council.
The council, in a letter to the villagers, says the initial agreement with the contractor was that the contractor should seek insurance to cover for possible damages to property that could arise as a result of the execution of the project.
“As you may be aware there were before and after pictures or photographs of all properties along all routes. This was done to facilitate compensation for those properties that would be deemed to have been affected by the construction,” reads a letter to Balli from the council secretary, Nelson Mogapi.
The council further says the expectation was that after the completion of the road project, the insurance company would come and assess the properties for damages with a view to compensating where appropriate.
“The contractor proceeded as expected, however there was a long delay by the insurance provider to act. The assessor came and only did a sample test along all roads and produced a one-page document, which alleged that tests had revealed that the machinery used during construction could not have affected any of the properties and therefore the contractor was not liable to compensate,” the letter further says.
Mogapi, in the letter, says the council voiced its displeasure at the way the insurance provider handled the matter, further adding that the local authority then wrote to the contractor asking for a comprehensive report that would indicate the tests done per property and the findings thereof to facilitate responses to the complainants.
The report was never availed and therefore a dispute arose between the council and the contractor. Therefore, as per provisions of the International of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC), the council and contractor went for arbitration on the matter. Sources told Mmegi that an arbitrator, Bookbinder law firm, has been appointed but has also taken long to provide the verdict.
The contractor, Madille said he could not comment on the matter as it was still before arbitration.