The Great KZN Construction Scam: How ‘Bought’ Certificates Are Failing Our Roads

A disturbing pattern of deception is unravelling in KwaZulu-Natal’s construction industry, leaving a trail of half-finished roads and wasted public funds. The provincial Department of Transport has sounded the alarm, revealing that companies are engaging in “fraudulent conduct” to win massive infrastructure projects they are utterly incapable of completing.

The scheme is as simple as it is damaging: unscrupulous contractors are “buying certificates” – purchasing off-the-shelf companies that already possess a high grading from the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). This allows them to bypass the stringent vetting process and pose as qualified, large-scale operators.

The Devastating Result on the Ground

The fallout from this scam is stark. A recent departmental assessment of 30 failing contracts revealed a shocking truth: the higher the CIDB grading, the more likely the project was to be in trouble. The list of failures included:

• One company graded at level 6

• Five graded at level 7

• Thirteen graded at level 8

• Eleven graded at level 9

“We rely on the vetting done by CIDB,” explained the department’s CFO, Thabani Nkosi, during a finance portfolio committee briefing. He described the frustration of awarding a R500 million tender to a supposedly top-tier Grade 9 contractor, only to see them struggle with the initial R5 million setup.

The consequences are felt by every road user. When a contract for a road rehabilitation project is terminated midway, it leaves behind a mess of preliminary work, creating hazards and forcing the department to restart the lengthy procurement process from scratch.

A Crisis of Capacity and Accountability

The problem is two-fold. Not only are contractors failing, but the consulting engineers tasked with overseeing the work are also not taking their responsibilities seriously. Nkosi revealed that the department had slapped one consultant with a R56 million penalty for not providing the same standard of work they would for an entity like SANRAL.

The issue also has a troubling racial dimension, as noted by committee member Mervyn Dirks. He expressed deep concern that black-owned companies are largely “lagging behind,” while the benefits of the province’s “construction site” status flow disproportionately to white-owned, Indian-owned, and even Chinese companies.

In response, Transport MEC Siboniso Duma has promised a “hard line,” vowing to “name and shame” failing contractors and ensure accountability. The department’s next step is urgent talks with the CIDB to overhaul a vetting system that has been so easily manipulated, leaving KZN’s critical road infrastructure and the public’s trust in tatters.

{Source: IOL}

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