Cape Town - A group of waste collection service providers have lost their first attempt to halt a Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s (DFFE) tender process linked to alleged fraud.
This as they allege an official attempted to solicit bribes from them.
The Western Cape High Court recently dismissed the application for a lack of urgency.
The applicants, including Banzotorque, Magic Cab cc, Metro Tyre Transportation, Gayfar Logistics And 1 Stop Tyre Shop wanted the high court to interdict DFFE from implementing its decision to appoint new service providers for waste tyre transportation for 18 months, pending review proceedings.
After the outcome of the interdict, lawyer for the applicants Zunurah Williams told the Cape Times: “We are pursuing a review application.”
They contended that with their 100-plus employees, they would suffer irreparable harm as the provision of waste tyre services could only be done in favour of the State and there was no private market for the provision of these services.
According to court papers they had been providing waste tyre transportation services to the department since 2017.
From September last year, it became a month-to-month arrangement.
“On December 10 2021, the department issued a tender for the appointment of service providers for the transportation of waste tyres across the country for a period of 18 months. The bid reference number was WB E108 and the closing date for bids was January 17 2022,” court papers read.
“On February 9, 2022, subsequent to the closing of the tender, the fifth applicant, 1 Stop Tyre Shop, received an email from (an official) of the department. In the email, he wrote, ‘Good Day. Please call me ...
“When contact was established, (the official) stated that his manager was reviewing the bids and he was ready to sign off.
“However, the bidders needed to make payment between R50 000 and R70 000 to secure the award. Clearly, Mr Maluleke was soliciting a bribe from the bidders.
“The applicants refused to make payment and informed (the official) accordingly.”
Following this, the applicants independently contacted another DFFE official who was listed as the contact person on the tender.
On March 31, the department sent an email to all the bidders stating that it had come to their attention that there were people calling bidders claiming to be from the department and demanding payment of money.
While the department acknowledged it as a serious matter of fraud, the applicants said after the notice, they received no further communication from DFFE.
The tender was also awarded to someone else, who they alleged possibly paid a bribe.
“DFFE has not informed our clients of the outcome of the investigation in respect of possible fraud and corruption relating to the tender. It is both procedurally and substantively unfair for DFFE to award the tender while the investigation is outstanding and in the face of the evidence detailed above in respect of the corrupt practices that have clouded the tender,” the applicants argued.
However, DFFE spokesperson Albi Modise said because the email address could not be linked to their department, the tender process continued.
“After the tender closed, the names of the companies that had submitted bids were published on the department’s website as per the regulatory prescripts that govern supply chain processes.
The Waste Management Bureau then received reports that some of the bidders had been contacted by people purporting to be from supply chain that were eliciting bribes from the bidders if they wanted to be successful in the tender, including from a certain person that was using an email address purporting to be from the department.
The email address referred to in the allegation was investigated and it was confirmed that it was not a departmental email address and that the person referred to in the allegation is not working for the department,” he said.
“As no link could be found between the reported bribery scam and the tender process, the tender process then continued. The department has since ascertained that the allegations have not been reported to the SAPS and in light of the serious allegations, which entail fraud, extortion and bribery, the department will formally open a case with the SAPS to trace these unscrupulous and fraudulent individuals.”
Cape Times