Pilgrim's restlessness
Pretoria High Court judge Stanley Makgoba on Wednesday, 25 July 2012, questioned the transparency of the process that has led to 17 Pilgrim's Rest business owners receiving notices of eviction from their premises.
The business owners were told to vacate their businesses by the end of this month because their leases had expired and other companies had won tenders for new leases.
The court yesterday heard that the controversial awarding of the new leases was flawed, corrupt and racially motivated.
The historic Mpumalanga town, declared a national monument, is the property of the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport, and is run by the Mpumalanga branch of the department.
One of the businesses, The Vine Restaurant, owned by John Reynders, was put out for tender while he was under the impression that he had secured the lease until 2014. The tender for his restaurant has been awarded to a construction company, Timbhulu Construction and Projects.
This left Judge Makgoba baffled.
"The man is trading on a valid lease then the government put his building out for tender. What is going to happen now?" the judge asked.
Ignatius Bredenkamp, an advocate acting for the Mpumalanga public works department, could only answer: "Obviously there will be ramifications."
According to court papers, Reynders' five-year lease, signed in January 2009, appeared to have been backdated by three years and 16 days.
In his founding affidavit on behalf of 13 other business owners, the chairman of the Pilgrim's Rest Chamber of Business, and the current owner of Highwayman's Garage, Marius Brummer, submitted that the "true agreement was that [all] the applicants almost without fail obtained five-year lease agreements in January 2009, therefore meaning that our leases almost without fail expire in January 2014."
Bredenkamp said that, with the exception of Reynders, the business owners were on a monthly lease agreement and "received monthly notices".
Judge Makgoba asked Bredenkamp if he would say the tendering process was transparent. Bredenkamp replied that notices were put out and that tenders were evaluated according to requirements.
Makgoba also asked whether it was pure coincidence that the tenders were awarded to people totally new to the town - "for lack of a better word, 'outsiders'".
Bredenkamp responded that "some, about five, tenders have been awarded to existing owners".
Advocate for the evicted business owners Francois Kriel asked how it was that the lease for the Pilgrim's Rest Golf Club was awarded to a bidder offering R33 rent a month and not to a bidder offering R3 000 a month.
Business owners submitted that there was a racially motivated agenda behind the tendering process and that there was an indication of "actively inciting" the community of the local Newtown township against business owners.
The evicted business owners have lodged an urgent application to stop new tenants occupying the buildings.
Judge Makgoba is expected to deliver his judgment today.
Source: The Times
Source: I-Net Bridge
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