Contralesa left us out of pocket, says Guru Link

THE Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) has denied allegations made by a black travel agency, The Guru Link, which accused the congress of failing to pay it more than R500 000 in additional services rendered for their April 2022 conference.

The firm’s director and travel manager, Mosima Matlala, told The Star that her company is now on the brink of liquidation due to cash-flow issues caused by the disputed Contralesa deal.

Ten months later, The Guru Link said it has found no joy in engaging Contralesa internally and has resorted to approaching the media over its apparent failure to pay the company for services rendered.

Matlala said numerous attempts to address that matter have fallen on deaf ears, adding that Contralesa secretary general Zolani Mkiva has failed to respond to her enquiries up to date.

In one of the letters, Matlala said she has made numerous attempts to resolve the matter amicably.

“On April 11, 2022, Contralesa contacted Mosima Matlala as a representative of The Guru Link, requesting that we render services in respect of a conference at the Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre on April 29, 2022.

“These services included organising transport and accommodations for delegates who would be attending the conference,” the letter read. Matlala has accused Mkiva of dodging her on the issue after Mkiva initiated the communication at the time of the conference.

Matlala said on the same day she was contacted by Mkiva, who confirmed the services to be rendered, she sent an invoice to Mkiva.

“I sent an invoice for the amount of R1 463 294, which settled all the agreed-upon services, but after Mkiva insisted on extra services, this made things difficult for The Guru Link as these extra services were not part of the original invoice,” she said.

Matlala said these extra services she rendered have caused problems for her company.

“During the course of the conference weekend, Mkiva made numerous requests for additional services, which caused an administrative burden on The Guru Link and increased the cost of the services.

“These included the provision of rooms for additional delegates who would also attend the conference; organising transport for additional delegates who were not part of the initial quote; amending ground transportation services to include additional pick-up points; booking flights for delegates who were initially said to be travelling by bus and organising photocopies of documents to be handed out to conference attendees,” she said.

Matlala said Contralesa owed her company more than R560 000 for extra services.

“On May 13, 2022, I sent an invoice to Contralesa for an amount of R560 685; several items were disputed and subsequently removed,” she said.

On Thursday, Mkiva told The Star that Matlala had tried to short-change Contralesa by inflating its prices and submitting different invoices, which have since resulted in the dispute.

“I do not think taking this matter to the media will serve any purpose. It will be counter-productive for her as she is the one who submitted inflated invoices. I paid her invoice within two hours of receiving it. She then listened to people from outside who ill-advised her, and now she has decided to pursue this in the media while we were still trying to resolve it,” Mkiva said.