Special Court declared R4.8 million Covid-19 contract illegal



The Special Court on Wednesday overturned the Eastern Cape’s controversial R4.8 million Covid-19 awareness contract.

The R4.8 million Covid-19 tender awarded to Phathilizwi Training Institute for OR Tambo Municipality in January 2019 has been declared unlawful and void.

The Phathilizwi Training Institute should run Covid-19 awareness campaigns for the community.

The institute was ordered to pay special tribunals legal fees.

The Special Court ordered the municipality not to pay two tax bills of R3,036,000 and R1,821,600 for the services allegedly provided by the training institute under the unlawful contract.

The Phathilizwi Training Institute was originally set to conduct a 12-month community outreach program in the OR Tambo community.

However, on February 24, 2020, the municipality extended the tender by six months.

“The expanded tender concerned a very different activity, namely a Covid-19 door-to-door campaign,” the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) said.

The SIU revealed that the municipality failed to follow the emergency procurement procedure when extending the contract.

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