This is according to an asbestos expert, Jacobus Roets, who testified before the State Capture Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday.

Responding to questions by Adv Paul Pretorius SC on whether the two companies charged the Free State Human Settlements a reasonable amount for the R255 million project, Roets told the commission the amount seems exorbitantly high, as the companies failed to even give a clear indication of how much asbestos there was per house or unit, nor the extent of the risk it posed to the occupants of the houses.

Roets told the commission, led by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, the report - dated 2 February 2015 - was "not of much use for such a big project" as it lacked basic details such as how many houses were involved, how long the project was going to take, and what equipment that was going to be used for the assessment and removal of the asbestos material.

His testimony before the Zondo Commission comes just months after the Free State Human Settlements Department had been under much scrutiny following a damning report by the Public Protector.

In a report released in May, Busisiwe Mkhwebane found the department guilty of improper conduct involving this asbestos housing contract awarded to the two Gauteng-based companies. Mkhwebane's report drew attention to how this department had failed to follow proper procurement procedures - costing millions of taxpayers’ money.

In the report, Mkhwebane outlined that the provincial department participated in an expired contract of the Gauteng Human Settlements Department, and failed to conduct a due diligence investigation before participating in this contract. She said the province was in possession of the Gauteng Department's Service Legal Agreement, which had expired, and went ahead to pay the service provider an amount of R139 million despite the Auditor-General having declared the procurement as irregular as early as July 31 in 2015.

She said their findings also indicated that the service provider had subcontracted the contract at a fee of just over R21 million, while the service provider walked away with R230 million.

Roets, who has over two decades of experience in the field, further told Zondo his estimates are that the project would have cost approximately R20 to R30 million.

"Although a reassessment will need to be made, the cost is definitely less than R255 million," he said.

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