Company contracted by City of Cape Town now blacklisted
Top n Nos, contracted to keep the ablution facilities at Llandudno beach (pictured) clean, has now been blacklisted by the National Treasury. File picture Top n Nos, contracted to keep the ablution facilities at Llandudno beach (pictured) clean, has now been blacklisted by the National Treasury. File picture
Cape Town - A company contracted by the City of Cape Town to keep the ablution blocks at Hout Bay and Llandudno beaches clean has been blacklisted by the National Treasury.
Top n Nos and Zara Cleaning Services had been found guilty of price collusion by the Competitions Tribunal and fined in November 2016.
Despite this, Top n Nos still managed to land a contract with the City of Cape Town.
Now that Top n Nos has been placed on the list of restricted suppliers, it can no longer do business with any level of government until July 3, 2022.
Mayoral committee member for finance Johan van der Merwe said: "From the City of Cape Town’s perspective, it means that in terms of supply chain management regulations, Top n Nos cannot be awarded any future contracts.
"The City is obtaining a legal opinion pertaining to existing contracts. The City may only restrict a supplier if they are restricted by the National Treasury, which has now happened."
Spokesperson for Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism MEC Alan Winde, Bronwynne Jooste said the department had reported allegations of price collusion involving Zara Cleaning Services and Top n Nos Cleaning Services to the Competition Commission in 2014.
"The Commission Tribunal ruled that both parties were guilty of price fixing/collusion and were ordered to pay fines.
"The Western Cape Department of Agriculture then moved to restrict both service providers, which would prevent them from doing business with the state. To this end, the Department was guided by National Treasury SCM (Supply Chain Management) Instruction Note 3 of 2016/17, which sets out guidelines for the restriction of suppliers.
"The Department has further not secured any services from either service provider since 2013. This case marked one of the first instances where a government department reported allegations of corruption to the Competition Commission, which was newly established at the time," Jooste said.