A fierce multibillion-rand battle for control of South Africa’s national wildfire fighting programme has swung decisively in favour of Tefla Group after the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria dismissed an urgent bid by Working on Fire (WoF) to block the transfer of the contract.
The ruling clears the way for the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment to conclude a service-level agreement (SLA) with Tefla, which emerged as the successful bidder after a court ordered the re-evaluation of the tender.
At stake is one of the government’s most important environmental protection programmes, responsible for wildfire suppression across all nine provinces, supporting thousands of Expanded Public Works Programme jobs and maintaining aerial fire-fighting capability during increasingly severe fire seasons.
The dispute traces its roots to a 2022 tender, for which WoF was awarded a five-year contract to run the programme.
Rival bidder Tefla successfully challenged the award, resulting in a previous court ruling that set aside WoF’s contract and ordered the department to reconsider the bids. After the re-evaluation, Tefla was declared the successful bidder.
Contract terms
Working on Fire returned to court, arguing that the department had effectively changed the rules after bids had closed by negotiating a two-year implementation model with Tefla instead of the original five-year structure.
Judge Sulet Potterill acknowledged that “the department re-awarded the tender, and Tefla was determined to be the successful bidder. The department entered into negotiations with Tefla and concluded an agreement for two years instead of the original five years”.
WoF contended before court that “the tender period awarded to Tefla was shortened from a five-year contract to a two-year contract. This resulted in the award being arbitrary, as a decision on pricing was not solicited”.
However, the court found that Working on Fire had failed to establish the legal requirements for an interim interdict.
In one of the judgment’s most significant findings, Potterill said: “WoF has no prima facie right as a bidder in terms of a tender, the court order or the award. The previous award of the tender to WoF was set aside because WoF was disqualified from the tender.”
The judgment is expected to have implications extending far beyond wildfire management.
At the centre of the litigation was a procurement governance question that frequently surfaces in public-sector contracting: whether an organ of the state may alter implementation assumptions after a contract has been awarded without reopening the process to competing bidders.
The court sided with the department’s explanation that budget realities after the prolonged litigation made a full five-year allocation impractical. Potterill ultimately concluded that: “WoF has not demonstrated that it has a prima facie right, even open to some doubt, to interdict the department from concluding an SLA with Tefla, pending a review.”
Application dismissed
The court dismissed the urgent application and ordered WoF to pay the legal costs of the department and Tefla, including the costs of two counsels.
The Tefla Group is a black-owned multidisciplinary services company led by co-founder and group chief executive officer Agreepa Neduvhuledza, while Mulalo Thabela serves as president of the group.
Over the years, Tefla has positioned itself as a major player in the services sector, providing solutions across multiple industries while growing its footprint in both public and private sector projects.
The WoF spokesperson, Linton Rensburg, referred Sunday World to the company’s general manager, Trevor Abraham, who did not respond to enquiries.
Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Willie Aucamp said when he was approached by Sunday World at Kruger National Park on Friday that he was aware of the judgment.
“I do not want to comment at this stage on the judgement itself, as I have not read through it. What my responsibility as the minister is to make sure that whoever gets the contract or executes that contract has got the capabilities to do it correctly.
“We are three, four months away from the fire season in August, but that does not mean that there cannot be a fire tomorrow. So, it is my responsibility to make sure that whoever is executing that contract has got the capabilities.”
- The North Gauteng High Court ruled in favor of Tefla Group, dismissing Working on Fire’s (WoF) urgent bid to block the transfer of South Africa’s national wildfire fighting contract.
- Tefla, a black-owned multidisciplinary services company, was declared the successful bidder after a court-mandated re-evaluation of a 2022 tender originally awarded to WoF.
- The court upheld the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s decision to negotiate a shorter, two-year contract with Tefla rather than the original five-year term, citing budget constraints post-litigation.
- The judgment emphasized that WoF has no prima facie right to the tender, as their contract was previously set aside due to disqualification, and dismissed WoF's claim as arbitrary.
- The ruling has broader implications for public sector procurement governance and reinforces the department’s priority to ensure capable wildfire management ahead of the upcoming fire season.
