Residents of the Nkaneng squatter camp said that, after the scheme was suspended, toilets in various stages of completion stood in an open field for several years. About 600 were finished to the level of fittings, but they were poorly built and eventually collapsed.<\/p>\n
An inspection by amaBhungane<\/em> showed that the two remaining latrines are in a filthy condition.<\/p>\n One worker described the scheme\u2019s failure as a constant reminder of what the company thinks of its workforce. \u201cThis is just one of the reasons we resent this company \u2013 it refuses to do the basics,\u201d the worker said.<\/p>\n Lonmin pointed a finger at construction company Lotshephe Development Engineers and its subcontractors, accusing them of poor workmanship and, in some cases, of absconding without finishing the work.<\/p>\n Errors and absconding<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n According to a University of the Witwatersrand paper titled Marikana and the Post-Apartheid Workplace Order, just over 100\u00a0000 people live in the Lonmin licence area in villages adjoining mines, hostels, high- and low-density suburbs and informal settlements.<\/p>\n The lack of housing and decent social living conditions in Marikana has been under the spotlight since police shot 34 miners dead during a strike over wages in August 2012.<\/p>\n Last month, amaBhungane<\/em> reported that some mineworkers have illegally occupied low-cost housing built on land donated by the company, arguing that the houses were promised to them but that people linked to the ANC were now moving in.<\/p>\n Lonmin\u2019s failure to provide adequate accommodation has been criticised by both the Farlam commission and Amnesty International.<\/p>\n According to an informed company source, Lonmin commissioned the sanitation scheme for the greater community in 2012.<\/p>\n Lonmin\u2019s spokesperson, Happy Nkhoma, revealed that the original budget of R16\u2011million had swollen to R20.1\u2011million because of added costs, including \u201cremedial work when contractors made errors and some absconded with unfinished work\u201d.<\/p>\n The source added that, in many cases, contractors did not adhere to construction methods and plans.<\/p>\n “Give us millions and we’ll make up\u00a0a plan\u00a0…”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Nkhoma blamed Lotshephe, headed by Booi Dandashe, for the collapse of the project. He said Lonmin appointed Lotshephe to plan, design and manage the construction of sanitation facilities in Segwaelane and Bapong villages, which include the Nkaneng informal settlement.<\/p>\n Eight local contractors were appointed to build 400 units each, 1\u00a0200 in Segwaelane and 2\u00a0000 in Bapong, Nkhoma said.<\/p>\n Dandashe did not answer amaBhungane<\/em>\u2019s emailed questions, and Nkhoma did not comment on allegations that Lonmin had failed in its oversight role on the project.<\/p>\n Residents who spoke to amaBhungane<\/em> said they would have preferred houses to toilets, but Nkhoma said the company received the request from the Bapo ba Mogale tribal council, whose land Lonmin is mining.<\/p>\n \u201cBapo was under administration by the North West provincial government at the time [2012\/2013]. \u201cThe administrator and the Bapo leaders at the time made the decision and Lonmin agreed to fund and facilitate implementation of the project,\u201d Nkhoma said.<\/p>\n However, a company insider said it was clear from the beginning that the scheme was doomed to fail, because there was no project planning, cost estimates were inadequate and no cash-flow plans were available.<\/p>\n \u201cThe viability of the project could not be assessed. It\u2019s as if Lonmin told the contractor to build toilets, and Lotshephe said: \u2018Yes, give us millions and we\u2019ll make up a plan as we go along\u2019,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n She added that it was \u201cunbelievable\u201d that expenditure of R20\u2011million had resulted in the completion of just two toilets.<\/p>\n \u201cLotshephe invoiced for work done when it clearly wasn\u2019t done,\u201d said the source. \u201cThey walked away with R2.5\u2011million for doing what, exactly? No one knows. When we went to check on the project in 2014, everything was such a mess.\u201d<\/p>\n “Not even Jacob Zuma\u2019s chickens and cows …\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>“<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The disorder included building material being left out in the open unsecured. The contractors also allegedly didn\u2019t adhere to the project design, failing to build foundations and using incorrect materials for backfill as well as poor-quality bricks.<\/p>\n Nkhoma said deposits were also paid to local subcontractors to help them begin work, because most were start-up operations that lacked the capital to buy materials or pay salaries.<\/p>\n Some of these community-based companies absconded with the deposits without doing the work or delivering materials, he said. This was one of the reasons the project was stopped in 2014.<\/p>\n The source added that there were no sign-offs on the designs and drawings, no inspection reports done by Lotshephe and no updates on time schedules.<\/p>\n Community leader Napoleon Webster said the toilet scandal was \u201cjust another illustration of how Lonmin and the ANC government undermine black lives\u201d.<\/p>\n Webster said the community was not consulted and would never have opted for toilets over houses. The toilets were also a safety risk, especially at night, he added.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a total disgrace to the black race that we can make billions of dollars for the corporations and not receive human respect from them. Not even Jacob Zuma\u2019s chickens and cows live in the conditions that we miners live in.\u201d<\/p>\n Nkhoma said Lonmin is redesigning the project in conjunction with the new leadership of Bapo ba Mogale in order to complete unfinished work and repair damaged structures.<\/p>\n The mining company is accused of “undermining black lives” after a latrine project yielded just two working toilets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":22468,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4482"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30712,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4482\/revisions\/30712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/250x106.jpg\")
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