Aviation village in Pretoria operational: dti
Updated | By ANA
Government on Monday insisted the multi-million rand Centurion Aerospace Village (CAV), south of Pretoria, was operational.
Government on Monday insisted the multi-million rand Centurion Aerospace Village (CAV), south of Pretoria, was operational.
Responding to claims by the Democratic Alliance (DA) that the CAV project, first announced in 2008, was non-existent, the department of trade and industry (DTI) said aeronautical engineering and manufacturing company Aerosud was part of the ambitious CAV project.
“Assertions by the Democratic Alliance that this is not the case are baseless. Whilst Aerosud does have other land and buildings adjacent to the land and building belonging to government, it occupies the main Centurion Aerospace Village (CAV) building and has a lessor/lessee relationship with the CAV,” said DTI spokesperson Sidwell Medupe.
“Certain formalities related to the head lease agreement between the CAV, the DTI, the department of public works and the City of Tshwane, which were put on hold during the audit process, are being finalised to enable rental payment.”
Medupe conceded that the bulk earthworks at the CAV had been stopped.
“This arose because some existing and incomplete contracts were terminated as a result of the forensic audit. A process to ensure that the all the regulatory barriers to begin the bulk earthworks again and adjudicate the necessary tenders is in place,” he said.
“All the recommendations of the audit have either been completed or are in the process of being completed to legal requirements including with respect to the recovery of funds and on-going processes involving allegations of fraud and corruption.”
Last week, addressing reporters outside the CAV, DA MP Patrick Atkinson said there was no commercial activity nor any of the about 1000 promised jobs on site, with more than R90 million spent on the project since it launched in 2008.
“I first became aware of the CAV after a parliamentary oversight visit to Aerosud, a privately owned aircraft components manufacturer, in January, where members of Parliament were told about the adjacent CAV that the Department of Trade and Industry has been promising to create,” Atkinson said.
“I then submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, asking the annual breakdown of the costs of establishing the CAV since its inception. The figure totalled R95 002 million,” he said.
“I submitted a further parliamentary question asking the minister who the first so-called tenant was that allegedly moved in to the village in January 2012. He responded by saying Aerosud. A senior executive at Aerosud denied such a claim.”
Atkinson said he gathered that Aerosud had owned the land adjacent to the CAV for the past 15 years and does not form part of the village.
He said the minister’s parliamentary reply revealed the existence of a DTI (department of trade and industry) mandated forensic report, following an investigation by private company Nexus Forensic Services into the financial and administrative irregularities at the CAV.
“After an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, the DA was furnished with a heavily redacted (blacked-out) and censored forensic report. Despite efforts by the DTI to erase the names of implicated companies, contractors, and department officials, the report still finds maladministration and unauthorized expenditure running into the millions [of rands] under the DTI’s watch,” said Atkinson.
“The report, which is dated June 18, 2014, makes an array of damning findings ranging from financial irregularities to possible tender fraud and corruption. The report also makes recommendations that both CAV and government officials be held civilly, and in at least one instance, criminally liable.”
The opposition party MP said some of the “most egregious” findings in the Nexus report includes alleged reckless tender appointments. The report recommends fraud and corruption charges are instituted against those responsible.
“The (Nexus) investigation could not locate approval by any of the three decision-making bodies of the CAV – the board, the EXCOM (executive committee), or management – for the appointment of five service providers to the approximate value of R84,998,950. It was found that the CAV was in contravention of section 12.4 of the MOU [memorandum of understanding] it signed with the DTI as it could not provide invoices or cheque stubs for a total amount of R 642,698.82.”
“In other words, this expenditure cannot be accounted for. The report recommends that the DTI recovers the unaccounted amount of R642,698.82 from the CAV,” said Atkinson.
He said the report found a reasonable suspicion of fraud and corruption with regard to expenditure on catering to the value of R1,142,177.02.
“It was recommended that in terms of section 34 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, the DTI has a legal duty to report this to the South African Police Service (SAPS),” said Atkinson.
From outside the perimeter fence, the vast, fenced CAV land looked abandoned last week, but for a sun-baked billboard reading: “Welcome to Centurion Aerospace Village”.
There is evidence of some earthworks on the land. There was no activity within the fence.
The multi-million rand aerospace village was launched in 2008 by then Minister of Trade and Industry Mandisi Mpahlwa.
The development of the village was meant to create 1500 jobs for local people.
(File photo: Gallo Images)
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