The City of Mbombela’s Fire Rescue and Emergency Services’ capacity to save lives remains crippled this festive season.

This as the Mpumalanga High Court, on Tuesday, December 24, struck from the roll, with costs, an urgent application to release the three fire engines, three water tankers and grader, which were attached on December 9 in lieu of outstanding debt to a contractor. 

According to the attachment order, the City of Mbombela (CoM) owes Tunica Trading 104 R6 670 000 for the construction of a road in Matsulu. After 13 months of begging, pleading and unkept promises, Tunica finally turned to the court upon which the attachment order was issued.

While the fire engines are still physically being kept at the Mbombela Fire Station’s premises, possession of these has been legally transferred to the sheriff of the court. The next step would be execution. In a desperate attempt to prevent this and have their essential emergency equipment released, the CoM brought an urgent application for a stay of execution pending the outcome of the rescission of the default judgement granted on November 22.

Intending to approach the court for a rescission of the default judgement, the CoM asked if Tunika would be prepared to instruct the sheriff not to remove the attached vehicles, pending the outcome of the rescission application. However, Tunika did not give such consent, and the CoM approached the court.

Acting on behalf of the CoM, Adv Mandla Nkosi indicated in his founding affidavit that the loss of the attached vehicles, pending the outcome of the rescission application, would severely hamper CoM’s service delivery, rendering its motion an urgent application.

Lowvelder previously reported that the CoM dragged its feet in responding to the matter. Nkosi explained this was due to a ‘slip-up in office communication and procedures’.

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He explained that while the summons was served on a responsible employee, Thokozani Mashinini, on September 17 and forwarded to the office of the municipal manager and then to the legal department for action, it appeared the legal department ‘for some unknown reason’ had no record of receipt of the summons and therefore failed to persecute the defence of the action.

In his opposing affidavit, Louis Wessels, the director of Tunica Trading, said the applicant failed to explain the urgency of the matter, especially since not all the City’s firefighting vehicles have been attached.

“The applicant still remains with a some of the fire trucks and firefighting vehicles, including bakkies. The applicant did not file an inventory of all their fire trucks intentionally, so knowing that such will sure prove the applicant is not prejudiced by the attachment,” Wessels’s affidavit read.

He further stated: “Nelspruit is but one fire station, there is another at KaNyamazane, White River, etc which still have their fire trucks intact and in the event of absolute need, they surely can be of assistance.

He added that since no date for auction of the attached vehicles has been published yet, there was no urgency.

Speaking to Lowvelder, Milazi said as matter stood, he would approach the auction office for an auction date as soon as they reopened in January. He said the City had two options – either negotiate and pay, or approach the court on a normal basis. But for now, he said, the judgement remained in place and the firefighting equipment can still be sold early next year to recover debt owed to Tunika Trading.

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