The Sekhukhune District Municipality council has passed a resolution in defiance of a court order forcing it to terminate the services of a security company it irregularly awarded a R288-million tender.
The council passed a resolution recently to cock a snook at the court order to terminate the services of Tubatse Security Services ( TSS) within 45 days and start the procurement
process afresh.
Instead it passed a resolution in a council meeting on September 5 to go back to court and ask for extra 45 days to terminate the contract.
The problem started at the conclusion of the procurement process when four companies, including TSS, were recommended as successful bidders by both the bid evaluation
committee and the bid adjudication committee to guard
several municipal assets in four local municipalities.
The committees announced the winners as Mabotwane Security, Brown Dogs Security and Letona 6 Security. However, when the recommendations landed on the desk of the then municipal manager Madire Rampedi, she overlooked them and appointed TSS in all the four local municipalities.
The sidelined security companies then demanded a review of the adjudication. But Brown Dogs and Letona later fell by the wayside, leaving Mabotwane to soldier on. Mabotwane eventually instituted an urgent application in the Limpopo High Court sitting in Polokwane where the matter was argued on a special allocation.
Mabotwane argued that appointing one service provider in all municipalities flouted the terms of the tender advert, which stipulated that four companies should be appointed in the four municipalities.
It also argued that the municipal manager was not empowered to overturn a recommendation by the bid committee.
Acting high court judge Malose Monene ruled that the decision by the municipality to award the tender to TSS be declared invalid, reviewed and set aside. “The decision by the acting municipal manager to appoint one bidder for all four clusters contravenes the terms of the tender. Both the bid evaluation and bid adjudication committee understood this empowering provisions to mean that although the bidders could bid for all four clusters, no bidder could be awarded more than one cluster,” Monene said.
The acting judge said he had gone through the supply chain management policy attached to the court papers and could not find a single provision which authorises the municipal manager to deviate from the recommendations of the bid adjudication committee as she did.
“The closest I found resembling some kind of powers the municipal manager has in a case where she has hiccups with a recommendation is a referral back to the bid evaluation or
adjudication committee of a recommendation for reconsideration,” the court ruled.
“The decision by the municipal manager from the recommendations of the bid adjudication committee in this case was not authorised by the empowering provision and judicially reviewable and must be set aside.”
Sunday World is in possession of a letter to the attention of Florence Maleke of TSS, notifying her of an eminent termination of the contract. The current municipal manager, Meshach Kgwale, has informed Maleke of the court judgment that has declared her company’s contract invalid.
“According to specification contained in the tender document, the municipality was required to appoint one security service per cluster. However, the acting manager appointed your company to render security services to all four clusters, which was not in accordance with the specification requirement,” the letter reads in part.
“According to the court order, the … applicants succeeded to set aside the award of the tender to your company and the court declared your appointment for all the clusters to be invalid, unlawful and to be reviewed and set aside.
“This notice serves to inform your company as a security provider to use this letter as written notice that the service legal agreement concluded between the municipality and your company will automatically be terminated or cancelled on 30 September 2024.”
Municipal spokesperson Lemson Moropjane confirmed they have asked the court to grant them an extension.
“This extension is necessary to accommodate the supply chain processes, including advertising, issuing, and finalising the contract. The municipality is awaiting the judge’s decision or approval before proceeding,” he said.
