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Nkandla contractor fights liquidation order

Businesswoman Thandeka Nene’s company, Bonelena Construction Enterprise, which is entangled in the debacle over President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead, is opposing a Pietermaritzburg High Court application for the company to be liquidated. The case came before the court on Thursday and a provisional liquidation order granted last year was extended until the application, brought by a local air conditioner company, is heard on a date yet to be arranged.

Businessman Zahir Shaik, of Air Cooling Solutions, wants Bonelena to be wound up, saying it is unable to pay its R623 084 debt for the manufacture, supply and installation of air conditioning – including pipes and fittings – at Umzinto Prison. In July 2012, he said, his company was awarded a R2 407 682 tender by Bonelena to do the work. Over time, the company submitted invoices totalling R1 480 084 for work it had done. Only R857 000 had been paid. He said Bonelena had previously been liquidated but was allowed to continue to trade in terms of a sanctioned “proposal and compromise.” Despite this, it had incurred further debts with his company and Wesbank.

An application had previously been brought by the bank for Bonelena to be provisionally liquidated for owing R728 143, but was later withdrawn. Shaik added that Bonelena was commercially insolvent in that it had not settled the amount due to him for some time. Nene has hit back, however, denying owing any money, and saying that Shaik’s company actually owed her R567 260. She said that he had been paid R1 207 000 in total and she was entitled to be repaid the money she was owed.

This was because invoices he had issued had already been paid earlier. Also, she was being overcharged on the invoices. Nene added that Shaik was not entitled to the relief sought because the alleged indebtedness of Bonelena was being disputed on reasonable grounds. “It is not appropriate for a dispute of this nature to be resolved in winding up proceedings.” She added that the money due to the bank was settled, which showed that her company was able to pay its debts. Meanwhile, Nene has been fingered by the Special Investigating Unit for receiving R1.8 million for a fence she never built as part of her payments for work on the R246m security upgrade to Zuma’s Nkandla homestead. Nene was also said to have benefited from millions in inflated costs.

Bonelena, along with Pamela Mfeka’s Moneymine Investments, received the lion’s share of the R155m paid by principal agent Minenhle Makhanya. The SIU is trying to recover the millions from Makhanya through a high court application.

Source: www.iol.co.za

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Nkandla contractor fights liquidation order

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