STIFF COMPETITION AT KHULA CONSTRUCTION’S AUCTION

MATSAPHA – Going once, going twice and it’s gone!

Nearly 50 bidders who crammed Plot 120, 9th street of the Matsapha Industrial Sites, learnt the hard way during a fiercely-contested auction that once the Auctioneer, William Kelly, pronounces that an item that was up for bids is gone; it has been sold for good and there will be no opportunity to buy it at a bargain price again. Not at the very same auction. Competition was so tense at the Khula Construction auction, which is under liquidation, as prices of heavy plant, construction material and office equipment on offer tripled as bidders out-bidded one another. The priciest item sold by Kelly, on instruction of Liquidator Gigi Reid Miles, was a concrete batch plant. The plant was eventually sold for E260 000 in a two horse race between Farai Sagwidza, from Pots Construction and Majahonkhe Dlamini from an offer of E50 000.

Bidding

At the heat of the bidding process, which rose from the E50 000 by E10 000, Dlamini asked to increase the bid by E5 000, which was rejected by Kelly. However, even then he did not relent but increased his bid offer up to E250 000 until Sagwidza offered E260 000, which was when he no longer lifted his bidding card, which effectively meant Sagwidza won the bid race. Sagwidza also purchased a container with two fitted air-conditioners for E65 000 from a reserve price of E30 000. Quizzed as to what was his determination not to relent the highly competitive bids; Sagwidza could only say: “The items we bought are part of our growth strategy as a company, so we had to go back with them.” On the other hand, Dlamini said their intention of purchasing the batch plant was to reduce costs of producing concrete on site. “We already have concrete mixers, so the plant would have been a good buy,” said Dlamini.The cheapest item sold was a table made from shutter boards, which went for E50 in an unopposed bid.

Auction

At the start of the auction at 10:30 am, Kelly informed all people who attended the auction of the bidding instructions, which included but not limited to, the general practice that goods bought at auctions were purchased as is. He advised that it remained the responsibility of the bidder to ensure that they checked their goods before leaving with them from the auction site. Notable faces at the auction included businessman Tommy Kirk, Roy Fanourakis and Mavela Sigwane, among other prominent owners of construction companies.

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