An armed response company is taking Sibize Calling International to court, in a bid to have it liquidated so that it can recover the more than R500 000 it is owed for providing security services.
Sibize has until Friday to oppose the application, otherwise the liquidation hearing will be held on 7 August, at the South Gauteng High Court.
Vimba Group Holdings, trading as Vimba Armed Reaction, was hired in 2008 to provide two security guards for each day and night shift, armed response and monitoring services for Sibize, at a monthly cost of R74 421.40. Sibize ran two call centres for the Gauteng government, for three years.
However, Sibize cancelled the deal in June 2010, leaving an unpaid amount of R520 950, despite earning a R145 million early cancellation fee from Gauteng. Vimba MD Fulton Ramaphakela writes in his affidavit to accompany the liquidation application that “this amount was never paid and remains due and payable”.
“As it is, the applicant has rendered services to the respondent, who benefited accordingly, but [the applicant] is now left clutching the proverbial feathers, while the bird has flown away,” he writes in the application lodged recently with the court.
Sibize has become a shell company and is nowhere to be found, after its call centre deal with Gauteng was binned, in October 2010. Its parent entity, Dialogue Holdings, is set to be wound up as soon as a few outstanding matters are sorted out.
Under investigation
National Treasury is set to investigate whether the contract was awarded without proper process being followed and whether it was a waste of money.
Sibize, which had more than 500 seats, provided Gauteng with several services through the call centre, including procurement and finance shared services, licence booking for the Department of Transport, consumer complaints, and a book-a-taxi service.
About two-thirds of its services were provided to the Department of Transport for licence bookings. The call centre was lambasted for being inefficient, as people battled to book dates to sit for learners' and drivers' licence tests.
The call centre formed part of the Gauteng Shared Service Centre (GSSC), which has come under fire several times in the past and has been slammed for its failure to deliver several key projects. GSSC was reincorporated into the Gauteng Finance Department, following financial concerns, in 2010.
Disappearing debtor
Vimba's claim amounts to six months' worth of work, for which it was never paid, writes Ramaphakela. “The respondent was paid millions by the Gauteng Department of Finance, but still neglected to pay the applicant what amounts to a pittance in relation to the funds received by it.”
Ramaphakela says a letter of demand was sent to Sibize's last known address, but could not be delivered as the company had vacated the premises and a registered letter was not collected. He says Vimba has no idea where Sibize is.
However, records from the Companies and Intellectual Property Office, obtained on 26 June, indicate it is still in business, its directors have not resigned and its address has not been changed, Ramaphakela writes.
“From the period of the termination of the agreement between the parties to date, the applicant has sought to no avail to have the amount due to it to be paid to it,” Ramaphakela writes.
Ramaphakela says Vimba would be in a better position to recover what it is owed if Sibize is liquidated, as this will enable the company to be traced, its debts to be worked out and its assets traced.
Dialogue Holdings CEO Alan Farthing expressed surprise at the liquidation application and said he could not comment until Sibize's board decided whether to comment. He says Sibize is dormant and does not trade.
An e-mail was sent to Sibize MD Sibusiso Kunene, but went unanswered, while the number provided on the group's Web site seems to be out of order.
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