Court cancels ‘invalid’ tender
The Mpumulanga High Court (Mbombela) has ordered that a R2bn security tender awarded to 17 companies to guard all government buildings in the province be cancelled.
It said the companies which were owned by cronies and proxies of some officials and politicians in the province was ‘constitutionally invalid’.
The order came after three of the losing bidders took the provincial Department of Safety, Security & Liaison to court claiming, that the awarding of the tender was irregular.
The Sunday Independent previously reported that some losing bidders accused MEC of Community Safety, Security & Liaison Vusi Shongwe and the acting head of the department, Godfrey Ntombela, of accepting bribes and gifts from the successful bidders to influence the awarding of the tender.
The department’s spokesperson, Moeti Mmusi, on Friday said he wasn’t aware the losing bidders had also opened criminal charges against all the officials who were involved in the tender process.
The court ruled that the department must pay the legal fees – estimated to be more than R2m, as one of the companies, according to the ruling, hired two legal counsels.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
