Durban — A fierce court battle between Xmoor Transport and eThekwini Municipality over the alleged irregular awarding of a water tanker tender to five companies is expected to take new shape in the Durban High Court on Thursday.
The City will have to convince the court why it ignored both the court interdict and its appeal’s authority, which set aside the awarding of the tender.
The City was dragged to court by Xmoor Transport after its bid was unsuccessful. The company objected and demanded to be furnished with reasons why its bid was rejected since it felt it met all the requirements.
Xmoor Transport also made an appeal, which was granted in its favour, but the city went ahead with the awarding of the tender to the companies. The court interdicted the city from continuing with the five companies, but the city is said to have ignored the order and went to disburse the payment to the five companies.
The tender in question was advertised around August last year when the city requested bids to supply water to the areas after experiencing challenges with the water infrastructure. Xmoor had tendered for the job but was rejected.
The company argued that the tender was irregularly awarded to the five companies, which, according to it, were supposed to have been disqualified for not meeting all the requirements wherein they failed to state whether their pricing would change or not.
“The five companies failed to extend their offers within the prescribed time frames, and the consequence was that they must be disqualified,” argued Xmoor Transport.
It alleges that there was “collusion” between the representatives of the municipality who assisted the five companies in question. It said the tender process was irregular, unconstitutional and must be set aside.
The eThekwini Municipality has been approached for comment.
This is a developing story.
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