By Staff Reporter
The Special Tribunal has ordered construction company Easyway Tarmac Pave and Projects CC to repay nearly R69 million to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) after its R167.9 million contract with Mogalakwena Local Municipality in Limpopo was declared unlawful and invalid.
The tribunal found that Easyway fraudulently misrepresented its contractor grading and past projects, misleading the municipality into awarding it a tender in February 2018 for borehole development, reservoirs, and bulk gravity pipelines.
According to the SIU’s evidence, Easyway claimed to have completed three projects worth over R50 million each, but affidavits from municipal managers proved the claims false.
In one case, the company inflated a project’s value from R6.1 million to R50.8 million; in another, it claimed a project that never existed.
The SIU argued, and the Tribunal agreed, that Easyway would not have met the minimum qualifying score without these lies.
In addition, its contractor grading legally barred it from a contract of this scale, which was 29% above its allowable threshold.
Judge Brian Mashile, delivering the ruling, noted the community had been disadvantaged when the project was halted
“The award should not have been made in the first place, and no contract should have been concluded between the Municipality and Easyway. By committing the fraud, Easyway has made its bed and must lie in it,” said Mashile.
The tribunal ordered Easyway to repay R68,866,908.88 plus interest — the total amount it had received — and cover the SIU’s legal costs.
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