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Tender graphic consisting of a calculator, pen and laptop.
The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has reserved judgment in a multi-billion-rand tender dispute, brought by the Working on Fire consortium against the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and Tefla Group Centres.
Working on Fire says there were serious problems in how the national veld fire management tender was awarded.
They want the court to urgently stop the contract and launch a full review.
Their primary arguments also seek to invalidate the R5-bllion contract awarded to Tefla.
Working on Fire says the process was unfair and unlawful, as the department allowed Tefla to fix its SARS tax status, after the bid deadline had already passed.
Speaking for the applicants, Trevor Abrahams says, “There has been an issue with the tender awarded in 2022. Initially the department had not treated some of the other tenders fairly and we were awarded a tender at that point.”
“You know we have raised concerns about that process as well. So we presented our case to the judge and we in fact asked for an urgent interdict and we’ll await the ruling.”
Meanwhile, the respondents on the other hand believe their case is also strong.
Their spokesperson Itumeleng Mndebele from the Mabuza Attorneys, says justice will prevail.
“As you have heard from the applicant, I’m not going to go through the issue of what the matter is about, but what they’re trying to do is to run down the contract that was awarded to us. But be as it may, we are looking forward that justice may prevail in this matter,” adds Mndebele.
