Parliament questions cancellation of Maseru’s fumbled dumpsite contract

Aerial view of the Tšosane dumpsite in Maseru. Residents won a court battle to have the dump closed, but the city council has fumbled the contract to rehabilitate the site. Photos: Sechaba Mokhethi.

The Maseru City Council awarded a M27-million (M1=R1) contract it was not legally allowed to sign, and later sought on this basis to cancel the agreement, Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee heard on Friday.

The contract with consultancy SSL Joint Venture was to oversee the rehabilitation of the Tšosane dumpsite and to develop a new landfill.

MPs had asked why the rehabilitation of the hazardous dumpsite had stalled despite a High Court order.

Town Clerk Moea Makhakhe told MPs that the relationship with the consultant had broken down. The council believed SSL was attempting to expand the scope of work by arguing that preliminary operation of the dumpsite fell outside the agreed contract and should be paid for separately. He also accused SSL of failing to deploy the five engineers it had proposed during the tendering.

Makhakhe said the council resolved to terminate the contract but while preparing termination, it realised it had had no authority to award a consultancy contract exceeding M20-million in the first place. The council therefore did not have the necessary jurisdiction and “it was void from the beginning”.

But committee chairperson Machabana Letsie said Makhakhe testified that the dispute centred on the consultant’s failure to perform, yet his cancellation letter relied on the procurement issue.

Letsie told Makhakhe he should have referred the matter to the Central Tender Panel.

“You cannot terminate based on a process that you have long passed. The law is not going to be on your side. This contract is now an obligation,” she said.

The committee also asked why the council had paid SSL’s first invoice if it believed the contract was illegal.

The invoice, dated 20 February, which is still awaiting payment, was for M2.73-million for completing the project’s status quo report.

Makhakhe said he had approved it before deciding it was an unlawfully awarded contract.

But Letsie rejected this too.

“We cannot say a consultant who has worked, whom you instructed to prepare the status quo report, should not be paid because you made a mistake by signing an illegal contract,” she said.

With the contractual dispute unresolved, rehabilitation of the Tšosane dumpsite remains on hold, delaying implementation of the High Court order intended to protect residents living alongside one of Lesotho’s most hazardous waste sites.

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