MKHOSI TOWNSHIP PROBE: CEO CLARIFIES ESCALATION

MANZINI – Chief Executive Officer of the Municipal Council of Manzini, Lungile Dlamini, has clarified the allegations levelled against Mkhosi Township.

She noted that the failure by aspirant plot owners to pay within three months for property at Mkhosi Township in 2001, escalated the cost from E3.5 million to E36.6 million. She made these allegations while leading evidence before the Commission of Enquiry into the Mkhosi Township Petition. The commission is chaired by Senior Attorney Zonke Magagula and its member is William Ndlela, while Nhlanhla Nkonyane is the Secretary. Dlamini, who gave her evidence through a 40-page letter, spent over three hours defending some of the allegations that had been presented to the commission by the petitioners.

Owners

Sandwiched by the management of the municipal council and the entity’s legal counsel – Manene Thwala – the CEO claimed that if the prospective property owners had paid for their property within three months after being given letters to do so, the project would have been viable and the commission would be non-existent. Dlamini supposed that in 2001, the municipal council had relayed to the hopeful property owners to start paying towards their pre-allocated plots. The aim of this, the CEO purported, was to assess the financial capability of the prospective buyers. “Regrettably, this failed to yield the desired result in that a handful managed to come forward and paid,” she submitted. At this instance, she claimed that funding the development of infrastructure was estimated at E3.6 million. However, due to failure to raise the required funds, Dlamini submitted that the costs in 2003 were envisaged to increase to E6.9 million.

The CEO further supposed that the municipal council undertook to redo the infrastructure costs by engaging engineering consultants and the project was at E8.7 million. However, seeking a loan from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development of E9 million, according to Dlamini’s submissions, fell through. This, she claimed, resulted in the municipal council factoring all developments that were taking place within the city and a new Mkhosi Township was produced with 216 plots in 2012. This, she submitted, was after the municipal council had terminated the initial concept in 2008. At this instance, Dlamini alleged that the plot sizes were ranging between 500 square metres to 1 000 square metres. In 2014, the CEO submitted that the project estimate costs were at E36.6 million subject to conditions that both infrastructure services and plot sales were completed within a period of 24 months.

“It is worth mentioning that in this type of development, time factor is key as project external factors like inflation, finance costs and other appreciation factors impact on the project model,” she submitted. She claimed that upon consultation with a financier, it was agreed that it would be ambitious to develop 216 plots at a cost of E36.6 million. This, she submitted, was because the plots were projected to be sold within 24 months, which meant the project was off-balance sheet. She submitted that in 2015,  the municipality agreed with the local bank to enter into a partnership for the development financing of 106 plots to the cost of E18.378 million under the project name, Mkhosi Township Phase One. The CEO claimed that these projections were to be repaid in five years; however, due to the challenges experienced with the plot sales process where aspirant plot owners took longer, the project development costs continued.

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