BETHAL – The case that residents of Bethal and eMzinoni brought against Govan Mbeki Municipality and other stakeholders in a fight to end their electricity crisis, began in virtual court proceedings today, Tuesday, August 31.
GMM, Gert Sibande District Municipality, Eskom and other relevant parties saw their day in court for failure to provide a basic service to paying consumers.
In response to the day’s proceedings, Mr Waseem Gani of MacRobert Attorneys, said that a week before the hearing of the matter, GMM filed an application to introduce a new affidavit into evidence.
GMM are proceeding with negotiation between them and Eskom, which is set down to be heard on September 26.
GMM are disputing the amount of the debt owed to Eskom.
“We believe that GMM belatedly filed this affidavit to either get a postponement of the matter or for the Court to simply dismiss the application on the basis that the dispute with Eskom relating to the debt and the electricity supply is already pending before the arbitrator.
“Although the fact that Eskom and the municipality are finally at the table dealing with the debt and the electricity crises, which is good news for us, to leave them unchecked to resolve the crises would be unwise,” said Mr Gani.
Prior to the hearing of the matter, MacRobert Attorneys, prepared a draft order for the court taking into account the pending arbitration proceedings.
“We believe that the parties must be under court order, the court must supervise the process and GMM and Gert Sibande District Municipality must still report to us and to the court on the progress of the arbitration proceedings, the debt with Eskom and all steps taken or progress made relative to the electrical supply situated within the relevant areas.
“We further sought leave to approach the court again on the same papers, if it turns out that no progress is forthcoming,” said Mr Gani.
Mr Gani said that as predicted, the municipalities were not happy with this and the matter proceeded for argument before Judge Vukeya.
The matter was argued and judgement was reserved.
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