A high court bid by three Eastern Cape government departments to have two decade-old judgments rescinded has failed leaving them on the hook for a R41m damages award to architectural firm Ikamva plus an estimated R110m in interest. The legal circus has dragged on for more than 16 years since the provincial departments of public works and health bungled the awarding of the 2003 architectural contract for the upgrade of Frere Hospital.
The Eastern Cape public works and health departments have, once again, lost a major legal skirmish in their decade-and-a-half long litigation war to avoid heeding a judgment to pay Ikamva Architects more than R100m in damages.
A full bench of the Bhisho high court has given the Eastern Cape government breathing space in its long-running dispute over the R41m plus interest claimed by Ikamva Architects as project fees, after it was pushed off the R1.6bn plan to refurbish Frere Hospital. The departments of health and public works with the provincial Treasury now also added as an intervening provincial government party to the dispute persuaded the court to stay writs of execution issued in 2016 and 2021 for governm.