Cape Town - The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has has won a case at the Western Cape High Court to invalidate a contract for the provision of catering services entered into between the school governing body (SGB) of the Western Cape Sports School in Kuils River and Star Catering from Khayelitsha.
The WCED had gone to court seeking an order that an agreement entered into between the SGB in September 2019, with the caterer ZT Makhosikazi Trading (Pty) Ltd trading as Star Catering, was unlawful and void.
The issue went back to August 2019 when Zukiswa Lali, a director of Star Catering, was told that the school wanted to appoint a new service provider.
Lali was called, with other potential service providers, to make a presentation at the school, and on September 4, 2019, the SGB held a special meeting, following which Star Catering received a letter the next day telling them that they had been appointed.
On September 20 that year, a contract was signed between Star Catering and the school, represented by SGB chairperson James Ketelo.
At the time that the contract was concluded, the SGB did not have a constitution, had not adopted a finance and procurement policy and was not properly constituted in that its membership did not comply with the provisions of the SA Schools Act.
Also, there was no evidence that the SGB had undertaken a fair procurement process prior to the award of the contract to Star Catering.
On October 3, 2019, the school principal, Shaheed Khan, wrote to WCED circuit manager of the Metro East Education District Cherie Meyer-William detailing the challenges he was experiencing with the SGB.
This prompted an investigation. The investigation report to the WCED highlighted, among other things, the dysfunctionality of the SGB and recommended that its functions be withdrawn after following due process.