Two multimillion-rand road tenders have been set aside and declared unlawful after the court found that they were awarded under misrepresentations of figures.
The Limpopo High court in Polokwane yesterday ruled in favour of Tzaneen local municipality, which had approached the court to set aside over R30m tender awarded to Tshiamiso Trading 135 in 2018 after it discovered discrepancies.
The tender was to build Mulati and Codesa roads outside Tzaneen.
Judge George Phatudi ruled that the decision of the municipality to award the Mulati and Codesa tenders to Tshiamiso was unlawful and constitutionally invalid.
“The agreements concluded between Tzaneen and Tshiamiso pursuant to the awarding of the tenders are set aside. The company is entitled to say the actual expenses incurred excluding any profits that it actually made in executing its obligations in terms of the two tenders,” said Phatudi.
The judge further ordered that the municipality in so far as it had paid the service provider was entitled to recover from the company an amount that exceeds the actual expenses on either of both tenders
Tshiamiso was also ordered to pay the legal costs.
Tshiamiso's Bruce Mohlaba could not be reached for comment regarding the judgment on Thursday. Text messages and an e-mail sent to Mohlaba were not responded to.
The municipality said in respect of the Codesa project, Tshiamiso had tendered for R9m, instead of R16m that Tshiamiso say is the actual tendered amount.
And in respect of the Mulati project, Tshiamiso had tendered for an amount of R26m instead of R57m, which they are now saying.
In his affidavit, Tshiamiso's Samuel Kaputa, who referred to himself as a civil engineer, testified that he attempted to compete the tenders in haste on their closing date.
Kaputa said he in error allegedly used subtotals as opposed to the grand total.
Judge Phatudi praised the municipality for detecting the tender manipulations.
“I must commend the municipality for the effort it took for having detected tender manipulations that were replete with misrepresentations and misstatements which ultimately causally led to Tshiamiso being awarded the two tenders illegally. It is this kind of detection that often casts an obligation upon organs of state to act decisively against any enterprise or institution that obtained a preference on a fraudulent basis,” he said.
The court found that both tenders contained “costing errors” in that the figures appearing in the body of the bill of quantities as individual line items were incorrectly brought forward on to the summary page.
Judge Phatudi said the explanation proffered by Tshiamiso was not only illogical but completely spurious and must be discounted for lack of credibility,
Tzaneen municipal manager Thapelo Matlala said they welcomed the judgment, adding that their focus would now move to building roads for the communities of Mulati and Codesa.
“Procurement processes [are] at an advanced stage and new contractors will be appointed soon,” Matlala said.
Tshiamiso's Bruce Mohlaba could not be reached for say regarding the judgment on Thursday.
Text messages and an e-mail sent to Mohlaba were not responded to.
Tzaneen municipal manager Thapelo Matlala said they welcomed the judgment, adding that their focus would now move to building roads for the communities of Mulati and Codesa.
“Procurement processes [are] at an advanced stage and new contractors will be appointed soon,” Matlala said.
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