This was according to a response on Friday by minister of
public works and infrastructure, Patricia de Lille, to questions by the
National Assembly.
The controversial 1.8m tall fence - jokingly referred to as
the “washing line” because of its poor quality and the ease with which it can
be breached - consists of six rolls of coiled razor wire and a razor wire grid
erected over three weeks by Magwa Construction.
The company was carrying out maintenance work at the
Beitbridge border post when the national lockdown was declared in late March. In
May, De Lille told MPs that the fence had been up barely a day before it was
breached.
On April 20, she had requested an investigation by the
auditor-general and five days later asked the public works anti-corruption unit
to investigate, assisted by SIU members seconded to the department. The
investigation revealed a litany of incompetence and wrongdoing in the
construction and recommended disciplinary action against 14 government
officials.
Questions relating to the rectifying of fence defects, the
delays with compliance of the orders, the disciplinary action against the
contractors and their existing contracts with the department were put to the
minister on February 11.
On Friday she responded.
De Lille said an accounting officer had performed a
detailed technical condition assessment of the fence and the outcome was found
to be against the recommendations of Scopa - which was to rectify all physical
defects in the fence “in line with all applicable regulations”.
“As the fence, in its current form, is not fit for purpose
and in material non-compliance with the specifications, the department has
taken a decision not to entertain the possibility of any further repairs of the
fence.
“Any further border fence initiatives will be located in
the context of the integrated border management solution under way. In this
regard, the site clearance process is aimed at being completed by June this
year.”
She said a best practice approach on border security, in
consultation with the department of defence, would be published by the end of
March 2021.
De Lille said security vetting for supply chain management
personnel was a lengthy process and the reason was that only seven vetting
officials had to vet 253 bids.
She described a protracted process, which included
completing lengthy documents, after which officers had to go and interview the
official being vetted, compile a report, as well as undertake a polygraph test.
Once this was completed, the files had to go to security clearance, which could
take up to a year to process. Times
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