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Facebook posts shared thousands of times in the days before South Africa’s municipal elections on November 1 purported to show a rudimentary water project that cost R9 million ($580,000) in a rural town in Limpopo province. But this figure is false: official documents seen by AFP Fact Check show that the chosen contractor had invoiced the relevant municipality at just over a quarter of the claimed cost. A Facebook post published on October 22, 2021, includes a picture of green water storage tanks on an elevated steel structure. Water project that costed R9 million at Lulekani Village outside Phalaborwa, Mopani District Municipality, Limpopo (sic) , the caption reads. A screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on October 27, 2021 The same claim was made in this Facebook post and on Twitter . Many of the comments in the posts are critical of the Mopani District Municipality (MDM), with some suggesting that the inflated cost points to signs of corruption. This comment , for instance, estimates the project’s true value at R200,000 ($13,000). Not R9 million The MDM denied the project in Lulekani cost R9 million, in a statement issued on October 23, 2021. The truth is that we have over the past months been working with the community of Lulekani to implement short-term water projects as intervention to the challenge of inadequate water supply to some residents of Lulekani, which is largely caused by the many unauthorised connections on the rising main to the command reservoir, it read. The municipality said it had spent just more than R2.4 million ($157,000) on the project so far, and that the work included, but was not limited to, the supply, delivery and installation of water storage tanks, construction of a booster pump station, and the pipework. A statement issued by the Mopani District Municipality on October 24, 2021 MDM spokesman Odas Ngobeni told AFP Fact Check that the project was implemented in October 2020 as a short-term intervention following community protests. Ngobeni shared the contractor’s invoice with AFP Fact Check as evidence. It shows a total cost of R2,449,631 ($160,000), or R2,130,114 ($139,000) excluding tax. The supplier’s invoice, provided by the Mopani District Municipality on October 26, 2021 The pre-tax amount corresponds with the figure in the December 2020 Section 52 report -- which is publically available on the municipal website. You will realise that on the report, we have not included the VAT (value added tax), which is paid to SARS (South African Revenue Services), but we had included it in the media alert because it forms part of the project expenses, Ngobeni said. He added that the municipality used a provision in the relevant legislation to award the contract without a tender because unrest in the community had made the project an urgent priority. The accounting officer used the SCM (Supply Chain Management) regulation 36 to procure the services on an emergency basis, utilising the services of contractors available on the panel (of suppliers). The SCM regulation is a controversial ( here and here ) but legal clause that allows officers in the municipality to deviate from normal tender processes in the awarding of contracts in situations deemed to be emergencies. Ongoing water woes Despite the project’s implementation, local media reported on October 30, 2021, that residents in Lulekani still do not have regular potable water. In the news report, Ngobeni admitted that the project was insufficient for people’s needs, but he defended the use of taxpayers money. It [water project] has worked to a particular extent, we are just saying that it is not 100 percent and we look to find ways to correct that, Ngobeni told broadcaster eNCA. The MDM made news on August 20, 2021, after a report found it had paid out more than R513 million ($34 million) in irregular tenders -- leading to the dismissal of some implicated officials. The municipality said it started the current financial year with a budget of R40 million ($26,000) to refurbish the water infrastructure, construct additional storage tanks as well as reticulation. Municipal elections As reported by AFP , a diverse 325 parties contested post-apartheid South Africa's sixth local government elections on November 1, 2021. South Africa’s municipalities have been failing to deliver many of the basic services residents expect. Leading up to the polls, the country found itself plagued by severe blackouts and water shortages. A voter marks her ballot in a voting booth at a polling station in Johannesburg, on November 1, 2021, during South Africa's local elections ( AFP / LUCA SOLA)
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