•  December 2000February 2001 Local News Headlines

Wednesday, February 28, 2001 - Web posted at 8:39:32 AM GMT

Tender can of worms 'unopened'
WERNER MENGES

A POTENTIALLY far-reaching attempt to have the 1999 awarding of the State pension distribution contract set aside because of the Tender Board's failure to comply with the law with the advertising of tenders was dismissed in the High Court yesterday.

Judge Sylvester Mainga did not give any reasons for his ruling when he dismissed the applications from unsuccessful pension contract tenderers Cash Paymaster Services and JMS Investments CC.

His ruling brought to an end to the two former pensions contract bidders' attempt to find a short route to have the award of the N$17,7 million a year contract to their competitor United Africa (Namibia) declared invalid because the Tender Board did not advertise the tender in the Government Gazette as required by law.

Lawyers for JMS and Cash Paymaster Services yesterday went on to argue why other reasons in their opinion had to prompt Judge Mainga to set aside the award of the contract (see related report).

Judge Mainga's ruling followed on a day of opposing arguments on Monday that dealt with the disclosure by Tender Board Secretary Meriam Onesmus in an affidavit that the Tender Board had stopped advertising tender invitations in the Government Gazette some time before she assumed her post in October 1998.

Such advertisements, as well as advertising in a newspaper, are required by the Tender Board Act of 1996.

Lawyers on opposing sides in the case agreed that if Judge Mainga ruled in favour of the submissions advanced by senior counsel Pieter Henning, for Cash Paymaster Services and assisted by Albert Strydom, and Reinhard Toetemeyer, for JMS, it could have the effect that all Government tenders awarded in the past few years would become invalid from the outset.

It remains unclear what effect the Board's advertising practices will have on the fate of other awarded tenders where potential bidders might claim they did not know of certain tenders due to them not having been publicised in the Government Gazette.