The City of Tshwane on Friday welcomed the North Gauteng High Court’s judgment declaring invalid the city’s 2019 decision to award a tender for the upgrade of the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant, in Hammanskraal, to a consortium comprising Blackhead Consulting, NJR Projects and CMS Water Engineering.

The companies are ordered to repay to the City of Tshwane the profits made from the contract, with the High Court to determine the amount to be repaid following submission of expenses by the consortium within 60 days.

Should the companies fail to make the submissions, the city will appoint an independent contractor to determine expenses and calculate profits made from the tender.

“The court’s decision affirms what we have long maintained - that contracts awarded through unethical and irregular processes undermine service delivery, compromise governance and erode public trust. We assure the residents of Tshwane that this administration will act decisively to give full force and effect to the order,” the City of Tshwane said in a statement.

Meanwhile, work to complete the upgrades to the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant have progressed successfully.

Phase 1B is underway after work on Phase 1A was completed ahead of schedule.

The Rooiwal wastewater treatment works has been a source of pollution, discharging raw or partially treated effluent into the Apies river, which, in turn, flows into the Leeukraal dam, where the Temba water treatment works abstracts raw water for treatment and distribution as potable water to residents. The plant collects and treats about 70% of Tshwane’s wastewater.

The repair and upgrading of the Rooiwal wastewater treatment works is being implemented by the Development Bank of Southern Africa in three phases. The first comprises the completion of a repair project which was started by the city and suspended at 68% completion, and the full refurbishment of the 250-megalitre-a-day treatment plant to restore it to its optimum functioning capability.

In a previous statement, City of Tshwane Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya assured residents that the city and the Department of Water and Sanitation were “all hands on deck” regarding both projects and that the city was still pursuing legal action against the previous contractors.

“We are pleased with the work being done by contractors appointed to finish the upgrades at the Rooiwal wastewater treatment works. However, we have not abandoned our efforts to hold accountable the companies that provided poor workmanship on this project. We have resubmitted our blacklisting application to the National Treasury,” Moya said at the time.