Full steam ahead for Menzi High School upgrades after construction mafia delays
The R37.8m project which started in June 2022 was set to be completed in December 2024.
However, it suffered at least six stoppages, mainly due to disruptions by armed gangs who demanded 30% of the project budget, with those disruptions escalating project costs which required the education department to seek additional funding.
The completion date was revised to April after the department received funding from national government and the KwaZulu-Natal public works department managed to reach a working agreement with the Black Business Forum.
However, the project was disrupted again early this year, by public works, when it halted all education-related initiatives due to payment issues.
'The disruption this time was not because of business forums. We've had a struggle with payments on site for the department of education. There was a time that we had to put a hold on all department of education projects until we could sort out the payment situation,' said public works MEC Martin Meyer.
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a day ago
- TimesLIVE
Full steam ahead for Menzi High School upgrades after construction mafia delays
After disruptions by construction mafia and further delays due to payment issues in the cash-strapped KwaZulu-Natal education department, upgrades at Menzi High School in Umlazi, Durban, are going ahead. The R37.8m project which started in June 2022 was set to be completed in December 2024. However, it suffered at least six stoppages, mainly due to disruptions by armed gangs who demanded 30% of the project budget, with those disruptions escalating project costs which required the education department to seek additional funding. The completion date was revised to April after the department received funding from national government and the KwaZulu-Natal public works department managed to reach a working agreement with the Black Business Forum. However, the project was disrupted again early this year, by public works, when it halted all education-related initiatives due to payment issues. 'The disruption this time was not because of business forums. We've had a struggle with payments on site for the department of education. There was a time that we had to put a hold on all department of education projects until we could sort out the payment situation,' said public works MEC Martin Meyer.
IOL News
17-06-2025
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New Enyokeni Royal Precinct: A R140 million boost for tourism and job creation
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Public-private partnerships: KZN's strategy to save R24. 3 million annually
Left: EThekwini Municipality mayor Cyril Xaba, Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson and KZN Public Works MEC Martin Meyer signed a memorandum to repurpose hijacked or abandoned buildings after the KZN Build Better conference last year. Image: supplied The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Public Works and Infrastructure says offloading close to 100 state owned land pieces and buildings for public private partnerships ,will save taxpayers R24.3 million in annual rates. On Friday the department advertised the vacant land pieces and other unused immovable properties, calling for interested parties to come forward with proposals on how to utilise these assets to the benefit of the public. In a statement on Monday, the department's MEC, Martin Meyer, said these are assets that have been identified as no longer having significant value to the department and as such have been sitting as dead weight on the department's asset registry. He said that the move to dispose of them was for the benefit of the greater public following resolutions taken during the Build KZN Betterconference on sustainable approaches regarding asset management last year. The disposed assets are worth over R120 million. 'To put this into context, the release of these assets will save KZN Public Works and Infrastructure an amount of R24,3 million in annual rates. As a landlord, the department pays large amounts of money in rates for all its properties, whether they are in use or sitting vacant. This is money that could be better utilised towards other priorities,' said the MEC. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Since being appointed last year under Government of Provincial Unity between his party, the DA, ANC and IFP, Meyer has been on a drive to find solutions to the unused state buildings particularly in eThekwini where many of them have been hijacked by criminal syndicates for drug peddling. As part of the solutions he proposed that all those buildings that the state no longer needs should be handed over to the local municipalities for low- cost housing and for private-public-partnerships. Last year, the department undertook an audit process to update its asset registry to better gauge which assets were used for what purpose and what was the usage status as unused assets continue to drain the department of significant amounts of money each year. 'This week the department will issue invitations for bidding for those wanting to make use of the assets to come forward and bid for them. However, in keeping with the department's mandate of serving, uplifting local communities and creating job opportunities, during the bidding process preference will be given to those whose goals align with this objective through the acquisition of these assets. "Institutions of higher education, those wanting to build schools and NGOs will get priority with the assets given to them either at free or at low-cost long term leases,' said Meyer.
