Minister of Education, Arts and Culture, Ester Anna Nghipondoka is embroiled in a court battle following her ministry’s bungling of a N$44 million catering tender, late last year.  
The tender, which is centered around the supply and delivery of foodstuff to government schools and hostels, in the two Kavango regions as well as Zambezi, for the period of six months was allegedly granted to a company that is charging the ministry over N$6 million more. 
This week, in court documents seen by Confidente, Platinum Investments cc - one of the bidders - is alleging irregularities and unfairness in the process that led to the awarding of the tender to PAMO Trading Enterprises CC. 
In their quest for justice, owners of Platinum Investments have approached the High Court of Namibia for an urgent application to halt the process. The matter is set to be heard on 14 March 2025. The certificate of urgency to this effect was signed on 3 March 2025. 
Also being dragged under the hammer is the chairperson of the review panel as second respondent while Pamo Trading Enterprise comes in as third respondent, followed by the remaining thirty-one fellow bidders. 
Pamo Trading Enterprise is the only bidder to be directly affected by the relief sought by Platinum Investments, in light of it having scooped the tender’s Lot 1, for which Platinum Investment also tendered. 
Platinum Investments, according to court documents is seeking “an urgent interim interdict, interdicting the minister and Pamo Trading Enterprise from entering into a service level agreement for the procurement and supply of foodstuffs to government school hostels for the period of six months” based on a contract under this bid. 
Reiterating that the bid was for the supply of foodstuff for the period October 2024 to March 2025, Platinum Investments is objecting to an extension said to be mooted by the government to favour its competition. 
“It has come to the attention of Platinum Investments that the ministry intends to enter into contracts in respect of the bid for a period of six months commencing 1 April 2025. This constitutes an illegality as the intended contracts would be entered into without following a proper procurement process in terms of the Procurement Act,” Agrippa Haindongo, who is a director in Platinum Investments stated in his founding affidavit to the High Court. 
Furthermore, the owners of Platinum Investments are of the view that the contract, which was awarded to Pamo, should have been awarded to their company ‘because its price was the lowest of all substantially responsive bids.

DISMISSED REVIEW, OVERCHARGING

According to court documents Platinum Investments submitted a bid for the tender on 29 July 2024 and on 25 October 2024, their bid came up as unsuccessful due to reasons pertaining to pricing.
The company maintains that it was not clear as to what issue the ministry had with the said pricing, which prompted the entity to apply for reconsideration. The reconsideration application was dismissed and the company was informed in a letter dated 6 November 2024. 
“It was not clear from the reasons provided, why Platinum Investment’s bid was ranked third and why it only scored 92%. Furthermore, Platinum Investments did provide proof of working capital of N$2 million,” Haindongo maintained, stressing that this could not have been the reason for his company to score below the other two bidders.
Haindongo maintained that he then did a price comparison between his company and Pamo Trading and established that while his cost per day over a period of six months N$456 566.66 Pamo Trading would charge N$481,914.64, for the same.
“This means that over a six month period, Pamo Trading would be charging N$25,347.98 more than Platinum Investment would per day. [Meaning] the total amount for Pamo Trading’s bid over the six months period would be N$6,793,258.64 more than Platinum Investments bid,” Haindongo maintained, adding that these findings prompted him to approach the Review Panel for reconsideration which was summarily dismissed. 
The review application, Confidente has learned, was submitted on 13 November 2024 and opposed by the ministry, Free Namibia Caterers and Pamo Trading.
The Ministry in its opposition, according to court documents, explained that the reason why Platinum Investments scored lower than the Pamo is because the former failed to  ‘add up the prices of the menu per day, per week and per 21-day cycle.’
Haindongo is arguing that; “Platinum Investment did provide a price per item per day, per week over the 21-day cycle. What it did not do is to total the cost per day or over the 21-day cycle.”
“The Review Panel agreed with the Ministry and dismissed the review application despite the fact that Platinum Investments illustrated that its bid was over N$6 million cheaper,” Haindongo stressed.      

GROUNDS FOR REVIEW

Haindongo’s outfit is now arguing that since the initial tender was earmarked for the supply of the foodstuffs from the period 1 October 2024 to 31 March 2025, ‘the contracts which the Ministry intends to enter with the successful bidders like Pamo Trading would be for the period of 1 April 2025 to 30 September 2025.’ This, while the Ministry is yet ‘to issue a new bid or request for quotations’ for the said period.
“The Ministry’s decision contravenes the provision of the Procurement Act and is inconsistent with its objects. The decision is thus illegal [and] the intended contracts will also constitute an illegality,” Haindongo maintained. 
“For this reason alone the decision of the Ministry must be declared illegal and null and void,” Haindongo stressed.