Airport services company loses appeal over disputed tender

The airport services company Menzies Aviation (Namibia) has lost an appeal against a High Court judgement in which it was declared that its contract to provide ground handling services at Hosea Kutako International Airport came to an end at the close of June last year.

The appeal that Menzies Aviation (Namibia) filed against the High Court’s order was dismissed in a judgement delivered in the Supreme Court on Friday.

Windhoek High Court judge Orben Sibeya declared on 29 June last year that the Namibia Airports Company’s ground handling services agreement with Menzies Aviation (Namibia) would end on 30 June last year.

This order was given after Menzies Aviation launched an application in the High Court to have the airports company’s decision to award the ground handling services contract at Hosea Kutako International Airport to a competitor, Paragon Investment Holdings, reviewed and set aside.

The Namibia Airports Company reacted to Menzies Aviation’s application by launching an urgent application in which it asked the court to declare that its agreement with Menzies Aviation would terminate at the end of June last year, and that the company would then have to vacate the premises it has been occupying at the airport.

Menzies Aviation (Namibia) had the contract to provide ground handling services at the airport since the start of 2014. It has continued to provide the services at the airport while its appeal against the High Court’s judgement was pending.

In the Supreme Court’s judgement, acting judge of appeal Theo Frank commented that Menzies Aviation (Namibia) was unlawfully holding on to the premises it has been using at the airport and in effect has been forcing the airports company to make use of its services.

Since Paragon Investment Holdings had been awarded the contract after a bidding process and the award has not been set aside, it should be allowed to act in accordance with its bid, Frank said.

The lawfulness or otherwise of the awarding of the contract will still have to be decided in the review application that is pending in the High Court, Frank also said.