City Power Project Coordinator Arrested In the Setheo Case Speaks Out: He Suspects Political Interference in The Eldorado Project and Says His Colleagues Are Now Afraid To Do Their Work

One of the City Power project coordinators who was arrested in relation to the Eldorado Park substation spoke out about the traumatic experience that he went through and revealed that a number of his colleagues at City Power are no longer comfortable to freely execute their duties because of the Setheo incident.

In an interview with Connections2Communities (C2C), an initiative which seeks to build community power around effective problem solving on matters of interest, he also he hinted at an element of political interference in the whole case.

“I don’t know what the problem with Setheo…because all the contractors, all the contracts that were done during that period were left to go through their three year period.” He narrated

He highlighted that even if he applied the same approach on many projects that were under his oversight including that for Concor Engineering and others, he does not understand why the Setheo project in Eldorado Park was targeted for cancellation.

“I was applying the same methodology and everything that I applied for all the substations that I was running including Eldos at that time but I am surprised that Eldos was singled out as something that is not getting the payment right but all other contractors were getting the payment like the contractor at Eldos, Setheo.” He said

The same project coordinator who was arrested and later on dismissed from work without conviction as the charges against him were provisionally struck of the roll because of lack of evidence said that the whole experience has been traumatic for him.

“I have gone through hell, I have still not recovered from the setbacks that I have experienced.” He revealed.

He however expressed gratitude for the support that he has received from his wife in the whole ordeal.

 “I was dismissed and then after I was dismissed, I appealed the dismissal, then after the dismissal they took long for the appeal to sit then ultimately I won the appeal, then it took them three months to put me back and pay back my monies and now they have resurrected the charges again, I am going to CCMA now.” Said the Project Coordinator.

He further expressed shock on the way how his case was handled since according to him the project was authorised through a City Power board approval and yet his subsequent incarceration came from outside his immediate employer and without any formal warning for wrong doing.

The project coordinator who is now on a paid suspension narrated that the hearing of his case was facilitated by officials from City of Johannesburg rather than from his employer, City Power of whom the only officials from City Power in these meetings did the recording and took minutes.

When asked about the mood at City Power at the moment, he said that some of his colleagues are now afraid to execute their duties because of what he has experienced.

“Some of them when I am talking to them, even now they are not.., they are afraid to work at that department, they are afraid to approve WCCs, so it’s just that they don’t know what to do. If they had alternatives, I think they would just resign and go somewhere but most of the people have resigned, that I have worked with.” He revealed.

The allegations against Setheo are that it was paid millions of Rands and yet no work was done at the site.

However, while commenting on that matter, the project coordinator said that it’s difficult for people to understand how turnkey projects like the Eldorado Substation are carried out.

He said that because some of the work in that regard is done away from the project site including outside of South Africa, the public won’t see that there is work being carried out during that phase.