CONCOURT ENDS PRODIBA S LICENCE DRIVE
THE last hope that Prodiba had of reviving an agreement to supply the country's driving licences has been extinguished.
The Constitutional Court, in an order dated May 27, dismissed with costs an application by Prodiba to be allowed to appeal to that court, against a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment in March.
The SCA held that the extension of the driving licence card contract with Prodiba that former transport director-general George Mahlalela signed in February 2013, for the period 2014 to 2019, was invalid.
The contract was signed during Mahlalela ’ s last month as director-general and was worth more than R1-billion.
Prodiba was first awarded the contract in 1997 and it was repeatedly extended.
The agreement Mahlalela signed meant the migration to a microchip-based smart card driving licence system would be performed by Prodiba.
The department cancelled the agreement signed in April 2013, but Prodiba succeeded in the high court in having the cancellation set aside.
The department then successfully appealed, with the SCA remarking that the repeated extensions of the contract were legally suspect.
In its application to the Constitutional Court, Prodiba said the SCA had erred in holding that a director-general ’ s authority to award the multimillion-rand contract was subject to an additional legal requirement of cabinet authorisation or ministerial approval.
In its order, the Constitutional Court said it had concluded that the application by Prodiba should be dismissed as it bore no prospects of success.