It was therefore difficult, if indeed possible at all, to determine
which contractor had been responsible for what. The difficulties were
exacerbated because, in a single township, there were various results- some houses may be completed; others partly completed; others not
built at all or barely started; and where construction work had been
done, it was often faulty.^3
Mokhesi also bemoaned the fact that none of the contractors or
suppliers had kept proper records of their projects, as stipulated in their
agreements with the department. ‘The contractors’ paperwork was
either totally inadequate or simply did not exist,’ he said. ‘Nor have the
material suppliers themselves ever provided proper reports to the
department.’
Yet, for some reason, Mokhesi and his department targeted only a
select batch of materials suppliers to try to recover some of the money.
The FSHS finally dismissed five of the six suspended officials in June
2015.^4 Other heads would roll later, bringing to eleven the number of
officials the department fired. Yet, despite the department’s insistence
that the officials had been solely responsible for the ‘unlawful and
fraudulent scheme’,^5 it failed to lay criminal charges against any of
them.
Mokhesi would later allege that Mokoena, the former HOD, had been
‘directly responsible’ for the payments.^6 Yet he was not among those
who were dismissed. Instead, Mokoena got a plum job as head of
human settlements at the Mangaung metro.^7 Of Zwane, Dlamini and
Tsoametsi there was no mention. Corney Twala, another top official,
also dodged the bullet of dismissal. He was absorbed by the provincial
Department of Social Development, where he became a senior