Members of AfriForum, the Mafube business forum, Mafube First and the legal team handling the case (Photo: AfriForum)
“Our community is completely fed up with the poor service delivery and terrible living conditions due to the incompetence of the Mafube municipality.”
According to Jannie Schabort, chairman of the Mafube business forum, they are also concerned about the lack of intervention that has taken place from the provincial government to date. The Mafube Business Forum and AfriForum have approached the High Court in Bloemfontein because they believe that the Free State Prime Minister is disregarding previous court orders. Judgment was reserved for Thursday.
The same court ruled in April 2022 that the prime minister is obliged to not only place the Mafube municipality under forced administration, but must also urgently introduce a financial recovery plan. Furthermore, the court also ordered that the sewage infrastructure be intervened immediately to stop the pollution of the Vaal and Wilge rivers. AfriForum and the Mafube business forum are unhappy about the prime minister’s lack of action since the court order.
“It has been more than a year since the ruling that requires provincial intervention to ensure service delivery,” says Schabort.
According to Morné Mostert, AfriForum’s manager for local government affairs, the Constitution does not provide for incompetence.
“The core of this court case is not only that the municipality does not fulfill its duties. The provincial government, which has to exercise oversight over the municipalities, does not have the power to rectify the situation. If courts are serious about the realization of constitutional rights, it can unfortunately no longer be left in the hands of the state. This has been proven time and time again.”
AfriForum and the Mafube business forum requested the court on Thursday to find the Free State prime minister guilty of contempt of court. There was also a request that the prime minister should take effective action to comply with the court order of 2022.
The organizations also want emergency plans to be put in place immediately to stop the pollution of the Vaal and Wilge rivers and for the prime minister to give feedback to the court about the progress of the intervention.
