To pay or not to pay ... that is the question?
Many Makhado residents are still asking themselves this question with regard to paying the new property rates, after the Gauteng High Court’s ruling on 25 July this year that the tender (Tender 1/2013) for the compilation of a new valuation roll for Makhado (2014 until 2018) was obtained in a unlawful manner by Mr Kulani Dumond Nkuna of Rusina Property Consultants and Valuers, who conducted the valuation process.
DDP Valuers, a competing tenderer, took the Makhado Municipality, Siyabuselela Trading Enterprise 275 CC (trading as Rusina Property Consultants and Valuers) and Mr Nkuna to court, after the municipality’s own tender bid evaluation committee (BEC) initially disqualified Rusina and recommended that the tender be awarded to DDP. The municipality’s tender bid adjudication committee, however, overruled the BEC’s recommendation and awarded the tender to Rusina.
In their court documents, DDP argued that Rusina and Mr Nkuna had obtained the tender fraudulently. Acting Judge D Dosio came to the same conclusion, as was clear in his judgement in favour of DDP. Judge Dosio stated that DDP had, in his view, correctly pointed out that there were irregularities in the tender process. He ruled that the municipality, Risuna and Mr Nkuna’s failure to contest DDP’s allegation that, among others, a signature was forged on the tender bid documentation led the court to believe that the municipality had accepted the correctness of the allegations.
In his judgement, Judge Dosio set aside the awarding of tender 1/2013 and declared the awarding of the tender unlawful and unfair. He also ordered the municipality to reconsider the tender of DDP, as well as to re-evaluate all tenders submitted to decide not later than one month from the date of this order (25 July 2014) which tender ought properly to have been accepted.
The one month period has since lapsed. In the meantime, the new property rates, as compiled by Mr Nkuna, came into effect on 1 July this year and by law, ratepayers are forced to pay the rates levied on their accounts. With the tender for compilation of the new valuation roll being set aside, taxpayers remain confused as to whether or not they should pay the new tariffs.
To make matters worse, Mr Nkuna withdrew from the tender process after a confidential settlement agreement with the Makhado Municipality before the objection and appeals process was completed. As he had appointed no substitute valuer or assistant valuers, the Makhado Municipality (not having a registered professional valuer) opted to complete the process themselves. This, according to experts, also constitutes an unlawful administrative procedure as the municipality was not qualified to do so.
The Zoutpansberger followed up on Judge Dosio’s ruling and ask the Makhado Municipality whether or not they had made a decision. Municipal spokesperson Mr Louis Bobodi responded last week by stating that the municipality and DDP were still discussing the implications of the court ruling in order to reach an amicable solution. “The first meeting was held on 10 September. Another meeting will be held before end of business on Friday, 19 September,” Bobodi said.
Bobodi’s response, however, did not mention anything about whether or not the municipality had re-evaluated the tender process and whether or not they had re-awarded the tender. To get more clarity, the Zoutpansberger asked Mr Tinus Nel of DDP Valuers for comment in this regard. “The municipality appointed us to correct the valuation roll,” was the response from Nel. He added, however, that the two parties were still busy finalising the service level agreement. In the meantime, property owners whose objections against their new property rates were rejected, remain embroiled in a dragged out appeals process. Exactly who is handling the appeals process remains unclear.
