Durban court orders municipality to pay costs to security companies — TimesLIVE
The Durban High Court in South Africa has ordered the eThekwini municipality to pay punitive legal costs to six security companies. Judge Mahendra Chetty criticized the city authorities’ actions after their attempt to reduce the companies’ bills by 20%, TimesLIVE reports.
The judge called the municipality’s approach arbitrary. In his view, cutting the payments could have been an attempt to financially exhaust the companies so that they would stop guarding municipal facilities. This could have created a situation in which the city turned to emergency procurement of security services without the usual tender procedure.
Dispute over rates
The claim was filed by Imvula Quality Protection, Excellerate Services, Vusa-Isizwe Security, Khuselani Security and Risk Management, Unitrade 1047, trading as Isidingo Security Services, and Secureco Metsu. At the end of December 2025, they received a letter from the city stating that payment for services would be made at the September 2017 rates.
The municipality claimed that a court order granted by consent in November 2017 had allegedly fixed the rates and did not provide for inflationary or legally mandated increases. The city also asserted that it had mistakenly paid increased rates since September 2017 and intended to recover those funds.
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The companies objected that they were required to pay guards the rates established by law in accordance with current industry standards, and that their original contracts provided for such adjustment. Chetty agreed with their position.
The court’s remarks to the city
The judge questioned why the municipality had begun to challenge the contracts only after eight years. He noted that the letter was dated December 29, 2025, a period when many lawyers were on holiday.
According to Chetty, without the court’s intervention the companies could have stopped providing services or suffered economic collapse, while critical municipal infrastructure could have been left without security. In August 2024, eThekwini issued a request for security services under a procedure that permits departures from ordinary procurement rules in emergencies. Following objections from the security companies, a consent order was granted on December 11, 2025, preserving the status quo.
The city stated that at the current rates, the annual deficit would amount to 300 million rand. At the same time, according to the judge, the municipality provided no documents to substantiate this. Chetty also noted that for more than eight years, the city authorities had failed to conduct a fair, lawful and proper procurement process.
