R1.7m storage bill in dispute

While a Ngcobo warehouse owner is demanding R1.7m from the education department for the storage of about eight tons of study material he has stored for the past 11 years, the state has said it would not be paying a single cent to him.

This is because the material was obsolete and Zwelitsha did not owe warehouse owner Ndimphiwe Matiwane anything as their agreement had “lapsed”, provincial education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said on Thursday.

Matiwane said the eight tons of study material was brought to him in 2007 by a supplier for the department of education who agreed to pay monthly storage fees.

Some of the material stored in the warehouse and that is collecting dust includes thousands of stationery packs, exercise books, paint brushes, boxes of white cartridge paper and maths instruments.

Matiwane claims the agreement between him and the supplier was for him to provide storage at R7,200 rental fee per month.

“The supplier made some payments, however, he stopped paying after there was a fallout between him and the department.

“In 2010 the department agreed to pay the outstanding rent and in 2011 they paid me R118,000 and took about one ton of the material.

“For me that meant the department took ownership, however, that was the first and the last payment I got from them,” said Matiwane, who showed the Dispatch a copy of the proof of payment made to him by the department in May 2011.

Matiwane said he believed the department was hiding something that might get some of its officials in trouble.

“Over the years, every time I bring up this matter with them, they send a team of officials to investigate but nothing gets done,” said Matiwane.

He said he was now at his wits’ end and wants the department to collect the material and pay him the R1.7m he says the department owes him for storage over the years.

However, Mtima said they did not owe Matiwane any money.

Mtima said the report he got was that Matiwane was refusing to hand over the keys to the warehouse.

“We want to dispose of that material because it has become obsolete. But he [Matiwane] has refused the keys to the warehouse. It is not true that we owe him money, in fact we should be taking him to court for refusing the keys,” said Mtima.