National government should be ashamed that it misled the country into thinking that municipalities would be compensated for collusion by construction companies, Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said on Sunday.

“Last week it was reported that municipalities which have incurred a loss of approximately R112-billion with the building of the 2010 Fifa World Cup stadiums will not get any compensation out of the settlement that government reached with the construction companies involved,” she said in a statement.

This resolution taken by the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission had basically allowed construction companies to get away with serious corruption scot-free.

“But what can we expect from a national government which has basically accepted corruption as commonplace? This is not cooperation between government and the private sector. It is a complete lack of accountability which is being wholly endorsed by [Rural Development and Land Reform] Minister [Gugile] Nkwinti as the chairperson of the commission,” De Lille said.

The only “punishment” these massive companies faced was the creation of a R1.5-billion slush fund which they were now coerced to contribute towards and which was supposed to further transformation. The construction industry should be prioritising transformation in any case. It was simply ridiculous that ratepayers’ money, “which construction companies stole”, was being used to help them diversify. Essentially, residents were paying for the crimes and failures of construction companies.

“The municipalities who agreed to this arrangement have failed themselves and their residents. National government should be ashamed that it misled the country into thinking that municipalities would be compensated for collusion by construction companies,” she said.

“This is exactly why the City of Cape Town refused to settle and hand over our battle to the national government. We will fight for justice and the return of the R429.4-million owed to our residents. It is a long road ahead of us but we are very prepared to walk it.

“We will not be thwarted by delaying tactics intended to try and demotivate us. The City of Cape Town has instituted its claim. We know that WBHO, Stefanutti Stocks, and Aveng Africa are hopeful that if they can raise sufficient hurdles they will be excluded from the proceedings. This strategy will fail.

“Our attorneys approached the deputy judge president of the North Gauteng High Court to appoint a case manager to oversee the matter. A judge was appointed to ensure that interim issues currently being used to stall the process will be expedited. The first court hearing to deal with a number of technical points raised by the companies will take place on 2 December 2016.

“We want to assure the residents of Cape Town that we will remain steadfast in the pursuit of justice and compensation for the losses which they have incurred,” De Lille said.