*This article has been amended to add comment from the South African Board of Sheriffs.

The Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) is accusing Eskom of illegally seizing its assets with the help of a Gauteng sheriff, while a court battle over R1.3m debt is still underway.

The raid took place yesterday and has sparked an urgent application in the Johannesburg High Court by ELM to reverse the attachments.

Eskom in recent months gained a court order to attach ELM assets on R1,3b debt. But although Eskom attached ELM’s bank accounts about two weeks ago, it did not seize any funds.

ELM maintains that Eskom’s actions are illegal as the matter was already before the courts before yesterday’s attachments.

Now the two feuding state entities are headed to court again over the legality of Eskom’s actions with the sheriff, with ELM arguing that the validity of the original R1.3b judgment was still before the Supreme Court of Appeal and invalidated further action.

ELM also accuses Eskom of disregarding internal governmental processes between state entities to deal with disputes of this nature without resorting to expensive court action.

In response to the allegations, South African Board of Sheriffs’ spokesman, Vincent Nel, did not wish to comment.