Mpac must now give guidance on what to do about the high court’s ruling in favour of the Bethal and eMzinoni Community for Services (Becs)
In the last council meeting of Govan Mbeki Municipality held on Monday, February 7, the council decided to refer the high court ruling on the issue of Becs and the GMM to the Municipal Public Accounts Committee for advice on what action they need to take.
The Mpac decided to appoint a sub-committee that will investigate if there was any negligence on the municipality’s side that led to the high court’s decision against the municipality on the Becs matter.
This decision was taken during their first meeting that began on Monday, February 21 and Tuesday, February 22.
The four members on the sub-committee include Cllr Ciska Jordaan, the Mpac chairperson.
They will investigate whether the municipality tried to approach Becs after media reports that the organisation is going to court regarding the electricity problem in Bethal and eMzinoni.
They have to find out if there was negligence on the side of the municipality that led to the court ruling against the municipality.
The committee will also be looking if there was negligence from the municipal administration or the officials.
If Mpac finds there had been negligence that involves either politicians or administration, the council needs to recover the money paid to the high court.
“Since the investigation is going to be looking specifically into the court matter, we have to find out on what was the negligence on the municipality’s side that led to the ruling.
“If we look at our local government structure in the country, we are guided by the legislations on how we must communicate with our community and stakeholders,” said Cllr Jordaan.
She said the amount the municipality must pay as costs of the high court will be revealed by the outcomes of the sub-committee investigation.
Becs, on behalf of residents who suffered under extreme power outages, won their legal battle against respondents Govan Mbeki Municipality (GMM), the municipal manager of GMM, Gert Sibande District Municipality (GSDM), the municipal manager of GSDM, Eskom Holdings, the Mpumalanga MEC for Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, as well as the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs on their case that was heard on August 31, 2021.
Judgement was in favour of Becs and the court imposed a structural interdict on, among others that GMM must, over the next three years, report to both Becs and the court on their progress to get their house in order in terms of electricity supply to the respective communities.
Judgement was also given that the respondents, also mainly GMM, must refund Becs’ legal expenses regarding this matter.
Judgement was given on Friday, January 14.
The Mpac will present the outcome of its meeting in the next coming council meeting for the council to adopt its resolutions before they can be implemented.
