Fed-up subcontractors complain to Mogoeng about ‘corruption’ at high court

Tired of constant postponements and alleged missing court files at the Pretoria High Court, a group of Soweto subcontractors went to the office of Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on Wednesday morning.

According to their chairperson, Gift Monareng, they went to complain about the alleged corruption at the court.

But Monareng said a staff member at Mogoeng’s office referred them to the office of Gauteng High Court Judge President Dunstan Mlambo.

“We will meet with our advocate tomorrow [Thursday] to hear a way forward,” Monareng said.

Their advocate, BT Ngqwangele, told City Press in November that a roundtable meeting would need to be scheduled to discuss the matter due to the huge volume of papers in his possession.

His clients have been battling to get millions of rands allegedly owed by Nyoni Projects, the main contractor which won a tender to fix water leakages in Soweto in the 2000s.

This was part of the City of Johannesburg’s now-defunct Gcina’manzi operation.

Monareng said Nyoni Projects filed for liquidation in February 2018 but he and others were opposing the company’s application for liquidation and the matter was still pending in court.

Monareng said a total of 152 subcontractors were affected as a result.

The group said the matter was either being postponed due to “missing” court files, incomplete papers, or it would not be on the court roll.

Given this experience, the group said their complaint was that:

• The Pretoria High Court filing system is hopelessly inefficient and not trustworthy. “In fact, it causes some unwarranted delays; justice delayed is justice denied”; and
• Their matter was once moved from opposed matters to unopposed cases without their knowledge or consent.

They proposed that their case be moved to the Johannesburg High Court and have it heard by the Special Motions Court, while on the other hand both the administration issues and court processes in Pretoria be reviewed and “be put on acceptable trustworthy standards and norms”.

Msindisi Fengu Journalist | City Press

+27 11 713 9001 Msindisi.Fengu@citypress.co.za Media Park, 69 Kingsway Road, Auckland Park

Rise above the clutter | Choose your news | City Press in your inbox

City Press is an agenda-setting South African news brand that publishes across platforms. Its flagship print edition is distributed on a Sunday.