R6.5M roof caused R80k damage

■ Joe Dreyer

The new roof that was supposed to have been erected before the onset of the rainy season at the Greater Tzaneen Municipal buildings in Agatha Street caused roughly R80 000 damage to office equipment and the archives of the engineering department last month.

This after the roof was not completed on time and heavy downpour caused the flooding of the entire upper floor of the GTM’s building. This is the floor that houses the Engineering Department as well as the archives where the building plans are kept.

“There’s significant progress with the roof construction and it is nearing completion, no major leakages have been identified since it last rained,” said Vutivi Makhubele, spokesperson for the GTM. “An assessment of affected movable assets was done and estimated to be around R80 000, an assessment of immovable assets is still being compiled to determine the overall cost, an update will be issued when it is concluded.”

The multi-million contract was awarded to Mbanga Trading, a contractor who employed EPWP (orange overalls) workers as laborers on site. The contractor failed to complete the project in the allotted time and was working on extension at the time of the disaster.