City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality v Takubiza Trading & Projects CC and Others

The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality invited tenders in March 2020 for the appointment of finance meter management consultants for electricity and water meter readings and credit control, for two geographical areas over a 36‑month period. The tender validity period was 120 days, expiring on 9 October 2020. On the last day of validity, the Municipality emailed bidders requesting consent to extend the validity period to 31 December 2020. Due to errors and late confirmations, not all bidders confirmed the extension by the expiry date. Despite this, the Bid Evaluation Committee and Bid Adjudication Committee later recommended and approved the award of the tender to Zutari (Pty) Ltd for area 1 and Ntiyiso Consulting (Pty) Ltd for area 2 in November 2020. Takubiza Trading & Projects CC, an unsuccessful bidder, brought an urgent review in the High Court, which set aside the awards on the basis that they were made after expiry of the tender validity period. The Municipality appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

The appeal was dismissed with costs. The Municipality’s attorneys were disallowed from recovering any costs associated with the preparation, perusal or copying of the appeal record.

The case confirms and strengthens the established principle in South African procurement law that once a tender validity period expires without a valid award and without the consent of all bidders to an extension, the tender process is terminated and cannot be revived. It reinforces constitutional procurement requirements of fairness, transparency, equity and competitiveness under section 217 of the Constitution, and provides authoritative guidance from the Supreme Court of Appeal on the strict consequences of expired tender validity periods.