The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has successfully won an appeal against a judgement by the South Gauteng High court to allow Vision View, a company which was awarded a R52 million contract by the SABC, to keep its loot, despite having their contract reviewed and set aside.
The Johannesburg Gauteng Local Division has had ruled that Vision View Productions’s appointment by the SABC was invalid after it was found that no procurement processes were followed by the public broadcaster when the company was appointed.
The judgement by the appeal court was confirmed by SIU in its statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, 08 July 2020, which said that the court has misdirected itself on the questions of law in the judgement.
The judgement in question, according to SIU Spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago was delivered on November 8 2018, but the investigations unit was partly satisfied with it especially the sanction meted out to Vision View as it was allowed to keep the revenue it generated from the contract despite the fact that it was invalid and irregular.
In the same judgment, the court had indicated that even if the contract was reviewed and set aside, this order doesn’t divest the respondent of its right flowing from the due performance of the contract.
But the SIU did not agree with it, and their position was later shared by the Full Bench of the High Court as they upheld the appeal as filed by the SIU.
“The SIU was of the view that the respondent cannot profit from an unlawful contract hence the appeal.
The appeal court found that: The court a quo applied the wrong principles by preserving Vision View’s rights under the contract, and a just and equitable remedy is, inter alia, that Vision View cannot benefit from the impugned contract by making a profit from it,” said Kganyago.
The SIU Spokesperson said the court also set out a process to be followed in the matter and it ordered that Vision View must within 30 days of the judgement deliver an audited statement of the expenses incurred, the income received and to the net profit it would have earned under the contract.
He said the court has also ordered the SABC to obtain and file an independent audited verification of all the details provided by VisionView with the appeal court.
In the same statement, SIU Head Advocate Andy Mothibi was quoted saying that he was pleased with the outcome with the litigation because it sent a clear message that no party will profit from unlawful activities.
