School furniture plans had ‘over 100 defects’

By THANDUXOLO JIKA

High Court Reporter

EASTERN Cape schools may go without school furniture for several more months while the Education Department is embroiled in yet another legal battle over a R102 million tender.

Bhisho High Court acting judge Leon Kemp last week granted Bongile Nkola, managing director of Cashmere Trade 48 and Richshaw Trade and Investment, an interdict against the department after it failed to respond to his demands.


Nkola, one of the bidders to manufacture and supply school furniture, demanded on January 29 that the department cease its tender process and withdraw it before March 7, threatening to t ake legal action if it did not comply.

Nkola’s threats came after he complained about the department’s manufacturing specifications which he claimed did not accord with the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework. “The specifications were not properly defined and were defective to such an extent that it was impossible for our client, and for that matter other tenderers, to price the tenders properly.

“The first respondent acknowledged at the compulsory meeting the deficiencies in the manufacturing specifications and undertook that the deficiencies would be rectified and that short-listed bidders would be afforded an opportunity to submit amended bids before evaluation and adjudication,” said Nkola in his affidavit.

This resulted in his companies failing to secure the tender, he said, as their prices were not competitive. There were over 100 defects in the drawings and construction specifications of the furniture which caused confusion for his company.

Nkola claimed an official, known only as Zibi, who chaired the compulsory meeting on October 8, said deliveries of school furniture were urgent and that problems would be addressed. Officials would conduct site inspections of the bidders’ factories and manufacturing facilities before compiling a shortlist.

According to Nkola, this never happened and he wrote a letter of complaint on December 20. The department asked applicants to extend the validity of their bids until February 28, 2018. “The applicants believed that the manufacturing specifications would be amended and rectified and that they would be afforded an opportunity of adjusting their tender prices.”

He claimed the department also accepted tender documents after the closing time on October 31, 2017, which he said was “ patently unfair, inequitable and repugnant of the requirements of transparency”.

Justice Kemp ordered the department to furnish Nkola’s companies with the full names and addresses of all entities and persons that were successful in their tenders by Friday.

The department was further ordered to deliver answering affidavits within three weeks from April 27.

The two parties will meet in court again on June 10.