The Bloemfontein High Court ruled in favour of the Frankfort and greater Mafube community on 29 July 2021 and approved an interdict against the municipality. It was also ordered that the municipality bear the costs of the application. The provisions of the court order require the municipality to perform the necessary maintenance and repairs on the sewerage systems, conduct regular inspections of the works and deal with any operational crises at the works quickly without unnecessary delay. The court order further provides that any sewage spill that specifically affects the Wilge River must be prevented and that the municipality must take water samples at the works that must be made available if the applicant so requests. To avoid further interruptions in the power supply to the works, it was ordered that the municipality must pay their Eskom bills on time. The municipality is also obliged to report to the applicant's lawyers every two weeks for a period of 6 months on the progress and should they fail to fulfill their duties in terms of the court order, the applicant will have the right to court again for further relief. This urgent application follows after AfriForum, in collaboration with the Mafube Business Forum, launched a main court application against the Mafube Local Municipality, in which it is requested that the national government intervene against the poor service delivery, as well as maintenance and administrative functions that do not take place. not. Chris Morgan, AfriForum's District Coordinator for the Highlands, says that the main court application was postponed to 29 September 2021 to 16 September 2021 and it was ordered that the respondents also bear the costs of this postponement. Morgan adds that the urgent court order obtained was a major breakthrough for the community of Frankfort because it is essential for the community to obtain interim relief while the main service delivery application is still pending in court. AfriForum is proud to have been able to support the community in obtaining relief. Illegal sewage dumping not only poses a health risk to the community, but the damage it does to the environment's ecosystems is significant. AfriForum encourages the community to get involved with AfriForum in order to put pressure on the government to fulfill its obligations to the community as well as their constitutional duties. SMS “Sewage” to 45344 (R1) to join.
Chris Morgan, District coordinater: Highlands, AfriForum, Cell: 066 486 7612, chris.morgan@afriforum.co.za Jaco Grobbelaar, Head: Central Region, Communit Structures, AfriForum, Sel: 066 565 8106, jaco.grobbelaar@afriforum.co.za Andrea van Wyk, Media spokesperson, AfriForum, Sel: 068 087 0567, andrea.vanwyk@afriforum.co.za
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