An 11th-hour payment of R300 000 has bought Makana Municipality time to negotiate their way out of a court ruling that has seen five municipal vehicles attached.
An 11th-hour payment of R300 000 has bought Makana Municipality time to negotiate their way out of a court ruling that has seen five municipal vehicles attached.
The hasty payment was made yesterday afternoon after one of the vehicles, a four-ton truck belonging to the roads and storm water department, was towed away by staff of the sheriff of the high court.
The municipality managed to save four bakkies also identified for towing away and opened negotiations.
The drama followed its failure to meet the 31 March deadline for a R300 000 payment towards a total settlement of R600 000 to Pretoria-based engineering firm Aecom SA.
Aecom SA was appointed in 2013 to draw up a business plan and a master plan for the roads and storm water department.
Grocott's Mail has a copy of a proof of payment showing the amount of R300 000 paid to Weavind Weavind Inc – a law firm acting on behalf of Aecom SA.
The truck was towed amid much drama on Wednesday afternoon, with the sheriff pouncing on staff as the worked alongside the vehicle, fixing potholes in Knight Street.
The workers were forced to dump their tools and materials at the nearby fire station.
In further drama, the police flying squad stormed the area following a report of a hijacking.
This, however, turned out to be a call from a municipal worker alarmed at the seizure of the truck.
Driver of the truck, Eric Hoza, told Grocott's Mail that he and his team of seven were thrown out of their truck while fixing potholes at Knight Street.
The department's supervisor, Ronnie Heyns, said, "I'm not happy about the manner this thing was handled. My workers were doing their job when the sheriff came and ordered them to empty the truck, forcing them to abandon their work."
Heyns said the truck's removal had scuppered his team's efforts because they were now down to two trucks.
"We've been doing a great job this week. We've used 4 000 bags of tar to fix potholes in Market Street, African Street and New Street, but this will make things difficult," Heyns said.
Last year Mayor Zamuxolo Peter's car was towed away from the Grahamstown Traffic Department, hours after it was due to be auctioned in the magistrate's court.
The Black Toyota Fortuner bought by the Makana Council for Mayor's use was towed to a private home in Grahamstown on Friday 25 July.
This was in terms of a judgment granted on 4 April 2014 and a warrant of execution served on 9 June 2014.
Africoast Engineering was listed as the creditor of the latest seizure, however, the municipality has cried foul.
Spokesperson Yoliswa Ramokolo said the company had delivered on only one of their projects.
She said Makana officials failed to understand how they had attained the right of execution.
"They never completed the master plan for which they charged us R400 000; yet they managed to sue us successfully," Ramokolo said.
Ramokolo said the municipality owed the company R200 000 for the business plan.
