During a virtual sitting on Tuesday, the court reserved judgment on the Ngwathe Local Municipality’s application for leave to appeal against an earlier Free State High Court ruling ordering urgent provincial intervention in the municipality.

This means that Judge J.P. Daffue’s earlier ruling on June 20, in which he ordered, among other things, that the municipality be placed under administration and that the municipal council be dissolved — still cannot be implemented until the court decides whether another court might reach a different conclusion.

If not, Judge Daffue’s order, previously granted in favour of the civil rights organisation AfriForum, will stand.

Should the appeal application succeed, however, the court order will remain suspended until the case is heard by the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Judge Daffue previously found that the Ngwathe Municipality no longer meets its constitutional, legal, and administrative obligations toward its residents. The court therefore ordered the dissolution of the municipal council and instructed the Free State provincial government to intervene immediately.
The ruling follows years of neglect, incompetence, and decline, during which residents of Parys, Heilbron, Koppies, Edenville and Vredefort, were left without reliable service delivery.

According to the landmark judgment, the Free State Executive Council must, within the framework of Section 139(5)(a) of the Constitution, draw up a recovery plan to restore services and meet debt obligations, dissolve the Ngwathe Municipal Council, and appoint an administrator. Progress reports, under oath, must be submitted to the court every three months.

The Ngwathe Municipality, along with eight other respondents in the matter — including the Free State Premier — was also ordered to pay AfriForum’s legal costs.