MBOMBELA – The Department of Education is readvertising the tender for its provincial feeding scheme. It appears in the tender bulletin for September, which was issued last Friday.
The High Court had ruled in May that the three-year contract to participate in the national nutrition programme in Mpumalanga schools had to be readjudicated, after some of the losing bidders took the matter to court claiming irregularities in the process. The court also ordered the premier Mr David Mabuza, MEC for education Ms Reginah Mhaule and HOD, Ms Mohlasedi Mhlabane to pay the legal costs of the losing bidders on an attorney-and-client scale.
The department was given 30 days to readjudicate the tender. Last week the spokesman, Mr Jasper Zwane said it was awaiting feedback from the court on proposals it had made. “We went back to court to indicate the steps taken and made some proposals. We are currently awaiting feedback, as such the matter is sub judice.”
He would not comment on the readvertisement. Some of the losing bidders indicated to Lowvelder that they were no longer interested, while others hoped that they would get contracts this time.
