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SCHOOLS FURNITURE TENDER ‘FIGHT’ RAGES ON

17/01/2019 08:23:00 BY MBONGISENI NDZIMANDZE

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MBABANE – The fight over procurement of furniture by government for schools around the country is far from over.

ERG Swaziland (Proprietary) Limited is opposing the application filed by government where it (government) is challenging the decision of the Independent Review Committee of the Eswatini Public Procurement Regulatory Agency, which ruled that the tender should be awarded to the company.

Government is reported to have withdrawn its intention to award the tender to ERG Swaziland (Proprietary) Limited after it was discovered that it allegedly submitted a fraudulent Labour Compliance Certificate during the tendering process.

The committee further set aside the awarding of the tender to another company, Marithas Investment (PTY) Limited.
Through its attorney from LR Mamba and Associates, the company has since filed a notice of intention to oppose the application.
Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Education and Training, Dr Sibongile Mtshali submitted that the High Court had the inherent jurisdiction to hear and determine the matter.

“The Eswatini Government has an obligation to provide school furniture timeosuly to schools without prejudicing learners at school,” argued the PS.
Giving a background of the matter, Mtshali stated that earlier this year, the Ministry of Education sought to procure furniture needed in schools around the country. She said due to the urgency thereof the ministry sought permission from the Government Tender Board to use the Limited Tender process of acquiring the furniture.

prepare

“This meant that the tender would not be advertised in the media, but the ministry had to prepare the tender documents as well as invitations to suppliers they had worked with before,” said the PS.
She pointed out that ERG Swaziland (Proprietary) Limited was one of the seven suppliers approached.

The PS said, in the invitation to tender, the list of documents that were to be submitted by the tenderers were explicitly stated. According to Mtshali, the documents which were required include inter alia, the Labour Compliance Certificate and Tax Clearance Certificate.

She explained that, on the day of the opening of the tender which was June 29, 2018, only five envelopes were submitted in the tender box, but the ministry only needed four suppliers. The PS highlighted that ERG Swaziland (Proprietary) Limited was one of the suppliers considered and an intention to award was prepared.

approved

Mtshali mentioned that such intention had to be approved by the approved authority (Eswatini Public Procurement Regulatory Agency).
She said it was then that ESPPRA advised the ministry to go and verify two key documents; the Tax Clearance Certificate and the Labour Compliance Certificate for authenticity.

“It was during the verification process where the commissioner of labour acknowledged that the Labour Compliance Certificate submitted by ERG Swaziland was not authentic. This was done on August 7, 2018,” submitted the PS.
She narrated that, the SPPRA was again informed about the findings of the verification process.

Mtshali said it was then that the intention of award to ERG Swaziland (Proprietary) Limited was withdrawn by the Ministry of Education and Training, on the ground that they had submitted a document which was not authentic.

unbeknown

“However, due to reasons unbeknown to the ministry, ESPPRA had already issued published the Notice of Intention to award the four tenderers, ERG Swaziland (Proprietary) Limited included,” said Mtshali.

She alleged that, an individual identified as Masuku, for the ERG Swaziland (Proprietary) Limited, was made aware that there were challenges regarding the Labour Compliance Certificate they had submitted on June 29, 2018.

The PS averred that Masuku was told that the ministry had been informed by the labour commissioner that the Labour Compliance Certificate was not authentic.

She told the court that there were subsequent letters from the Labour Commissioner insinuating that ERG Swaziland (Proprietary) Limited had since complied with the labour laws hence he had issued the company with a new Labour Compliances Certificate.