CARMEL RICKARD: A corporate marriage on the rocks
The troubled relationship between a North West municipality and a business from which it rented equipment and vehicles seems to be heading for divorce
From the start, the marriage between the Mahikeng municipality and finance company Kwane Capital appeared a doomed affair. Now the high court has presided over its break-up and, under the watchful eye of the sheriff and the SA Revenue Service (Sars), there seems no doubt that recriminations and tears will begin in earnest. Just who wooed whom is hard to tell — this may well have been an arranged marriage — but we do know exactly when the affair became official: the company and the North West municipality signed two rental agreements, one in December 2015 and another two months later. Under this arrangement, Mahikeng would rent heavy plant and equipment, as well as motor vehicles, from Kwane. This was a rent-to-buy contract under which, if all rental payments were made as stipulated, the machinery and vehicles would ultimately become Mahikeng’s property. But failure to pay could result in the contract being cancelled and the machinery reverting to Kwane, however much Mahikeng had pai...
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