The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality insists it is simply changing service providers.
However, what is unfolding in Kariega looks and feels very different.
After 57 years on the same property, the SPCA in Kariega has been told to pack up and make way for a new municipal pound operator.
Staff were initially given 24 hours to vacate their offices and clinic.
After frantic negotiations, they were granted a 30-day reprieve.
This means that by February 20, the cats and dogs in their care must be gone. If alternative premises are not found, 27 dogs and 30 cats face euthanasia.
This situation raises far more questions than answers about how this process was conceived, timed and executed.
Start with the most basic contradictions. The municipality says the pound is open and ready to receive animals. The SPCA says the offices it was ordered to empty remain exactly that — empty.
Only a statement, issued late on Wednesday, asserts that a service provider has been appointed and that upgrades are at an advanced stage.
If the pound is truly open, why are the animals currently in SPCA care being given a deadline that could result in their deaths?
If the pound is not yet functional, why force out the only organisation that is, right now, actually caring for impounded and rescued animals?
Then there is the question of timing and fairness.
A tender briefing was held on December 23. The submission deadline was December 31. Only one bidder made it through.
Is this really how a municipality should handle the handover of a critical animal welfare service?
The municipality says it is under no obligation to renew any contract. That is true. But it is not the full story.
Procurement law is not a licence for cruelty or callous indifference.
Right now, the municipality is not just failing a welfare organisation. It is failing a basic test of humanity.
The Herald
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.