The Mercury
The fight over who should feed the poorest schoolchildren in the province is being resolved by the warring parties through negotiation – but if this fails, the matter will go to court. File photo: Marilyn Bernard
Durban – The fight over who should feed the poorest schoolchildren in the province is being resolved by the warring parties through negotiation – but if this fails, the matter will go to court.
The dispute, between the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department and the 82 companies who did not get tenders to supply the scheme, came before the Durban High Court on Friday, but was adjourned.
The attorney for the unhappy companies, Sergie Brimiah, said the parties were urged by the judge to sort out the conflict.
If this did not happen, the matter would be enrolled on the opposed court roll on July 15.
The companies alleged in court papers that the firms awarded the tenders were “illegitimate” and lacked funds and experience, which was why the court should set aside tenders already awarded and order that the process start afresh.
Businesswoman Nkosinomusa Buthelezi, on behalf of NGB Meal Supply and Catering and the other companies, said the state’s billion-rand investment in the school nutritional programme had left it vulnerable to corruption.
The tenders, for the National School Nutritional Programme to provide food to schools from January to March next year, were advertised in newspapers in November last year.
Although the contracts run for more than a year, they are renewable every school term.
“Setting them aside would not have catastrophic consequences for any innocent tenderer,” Buthelezi said.
Although the applicants had, at some stage, been service providers of the programme, they were “arbitrarily and without just cause” removed when the tender process was initiated, she said.
They were also excluded from being awarded tenders.
Buthelezi said the process had failed in almost all schools because the tenderers lacked capital and experience.
Some of the successful companies did not “validly exist” and were not registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission.
She named 11 such companies.
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