City has five-day deadline to pay R53m

THE ETHEKWINI Municipality has been given five days to pay R53 million to a service provider or face having its assets attached by the Sheriff of the Court.

- THAMI MAGUBANE

Lawyers representing the service provider, Daily Double Trading, have stated they will not tolerate any further delays in this matter.

This situation follows the Constitutional Court' dismissal of the municipality’s application for leave to appeal. The City is embroiled in a protracted battle with Daily Double Trading 479, trading as Pholobas Projects. At the centre of the dispute is an agreement reached between representatives of the City and those of the company.

The company was contracted to do work for the City however the municipality decided to terminate the contract. When the company challenged the cancellation of the contract in court, an out-of-court settlement was struck.

In terms of the agreement, which was dealt with by a lawyer representing the City, the company would be paid R30m.

However, the City later disowned the agreement, arguing that the lawyer had no authority to enter into such an agreement on its behalf. The municipality fought the matter in court and lost; its final appeal to seek the right to appeal the earlier judgments was denied by the Constitutional Court. The City now finds itself obligated to pay the original R30m plus millions of rand in interest.