Court action may quell water crisis

Could an application to the High Court spell an end to continuous service delivery problems beleaguering Estcourtonians?

Local attorney Desigan Pillay is confident that it will, and presented this idea to the residents who attended another meeting on Thursday (July 7) to address the water crisis.

At their wits’ end on how to coax action from uThukela District Municipality to resolve the widespread water disruptions, residents requested that Mr Pillay provide legal advice.

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Substantiating the information provided at the meeting, Pillay told the Estcourt News that he was confident that if residents banded together, this would be a successful venture.

High Court application

His suggestion was that an application be brought to the High Court, where residents accept that they will not be paying municipal accounts (water and rates).

Instead, a joint account will be opened, where members will pay their accounts until both the local and district municipality provide satisfactory services.

This account would be managed by the community and would be strictly audited.

While Pillay stressed that this is just a theory until a committee is formed, he said it would be beneficial to the frustrated ratepayers.

“We will use the money from that account to – in the case of water – hire tankers to distribute water and fund the drilling of boreholes. In terms of local municipal services, we can hire professionals to repair the roads and even outsource services when refuse isn’t picked up,” he explained.

This suggestion was supported by the small number of people who attended the meeting; the next step would be for a committee to be elected.

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The committee will then bring the list of demands to Pillay, who in turn will draft a letter prompting the High Court application.

“If the committee is in place, everyone is on board and we have a mandate by the people who are affected. The application could be granted within a month. A case that shows the desperation of the people will be presented. There is sufficient case law to support this application and this has been done successfully in other towns,” Pillay said, while emphasising that support from the community is key.

He said that a joint strategic meeting will be held, where all aspects relating to water disruptions and other service delivery complaints will be dealt with.

Water woes continue

Meanwhile, it has been another week without water for hundreds of residents in parts of Forderville, Colita and Papkuilsfontein.

Despite assurances at two meetings from uThukela Acting Municipal Manager Mr Mnguni that security would be stepped up at pump stations and reservoirs due to alleged acts of sabotage, photos of vandalism at the pump house in Dahlia Road surfaced on Saturday.

Mnguni also cited blockages of water lines at the Archie Rodell Water Treatment Plant after extensive flooding late last year and earlier this year, which exacerbated water disruptions.

According to a progress report that was requested from uThukela’s communication department, a technical team discovered that two raw water lines from the Bushman’s River were completely blocked with debris.

“This blockage did not end at the raw water lines; the silt also gravitated to the water treatment plant and blocked settling tanks, clarifiers and other plant processes, affecting the volumes and operations of the plant. uThukela District Municipality appointed JG Africa to refurbish the plant. They have since started with their operations and are currently at 25% of the scope of their work, and they are progressing well. On completion, this will ensure that we get enough raw water volumes. It will further ensure that we purify and pump more volumes out of the plant,” commented communication manager Jabulani Mkhonza.

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