The eThekwini Municipality wants the assets that were seized from its offices, returned.

The seizure on August 25 was part of an attachment order given to Daily Double (trading as Pholobas Projects) to remove R30m worth of assets belonging to the municipality.

A report recently presented to the eThekwini executive committee states that 16 vehicles, 18 telephones, three computers and one photocopying machine were taken from the municipality.

Following the seizure, the municipality filed papers in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein to have the assets returned and to overturn the Durban High Court ruling that awarded Pholobas Projects an amount of R30m. “We believe that a different court will rule differently,” said eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda.

After filing a petition to the appeal court, the municipality then issued a letter to the lawyers of Pholobas Projects to return the attached assets.

On September 1, their lawyers responded with a letter saying they will return the assets if the municipality paid them R30m. The municipality wrote back refusing to agree to their conditions.

“Counsel was instructed to prepare application papers to apply for the unconditional release of the seized municipal assets because the matter was still the subject of leave to appeal,” the Exco report states.

According to court documents, in 2012, Pholobas Projects was ordered to pay over R100 000 back to eThekwini, following an audit report that found irregularities with a contract awarded to them.

Following that, the City Integrity and Investigations Unit (CIIU) recommended Pholobas Projects be removed from the municipality’s service provider database and all their contracts be suspended.

In 2017, Pholobas Projects opened a case against the municipality, saying they were improperly blacklisted.
In 2018, lawyers for the municipality offered Pholobas Projects a R30m settlement, which they accepted.

The municipality later retracted the offer, arguing that their lawyers were not acting on their instructions. However, their version of events were dismissed in court.

The Witness could not find out the date the matter will be in the SCA.