The Free State High Court has ruled that the Ngwathe Local Municipality is in breach of its constitutional duties to provide basic services to residents and must be placed under provincial administration.
The major towns in the municipality’s jurisdiction include Parys, Vredefort, Heilbron, Koppies and Edenville. Its mayor is ANC regional chairperson Victoria de Beer-Mthombeni.
The urgent application was brought by civil group AfriForum, with a community protest outside court calling for the dissolution of the municipality.
Municipality dysfunctional for years
Judge JP Daffue found that the municipality has been dysfunctional for years, with repeated failures in providing clean water, proper sanitation, waste management, and basic financial accountability
“I recorded earlier that I do not intend to deal with all allegations of lack of service delivery and/or maladministration. I shall restrict myself to the more serious issues. And those are either common cause or have not been engaged seriously in an attempt to show a real and bona fide dispute.
“The magnitude of Ngwathe’s financial problems has been admitted by its municipal manager, who confirmed that it will not be remedied over a short period of time. It owes Eskom in excess of R2-billion. And although R69-million in respect of interest has been written off, the magnitude of this debt is not appreciated by the respondents,” said Daffue.
Millions owed to service providers
More millions are owed to other service providers. And interest charged on late payments has led to fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
The court noted the Auditor-General’s report that shows worsening irregular and wasteful expenditure. This while critical services including sewage treatment and water supply are collapsing. It further noted raw sewage flowing into the Vaal River and faeces found in the municipality’s drinking water.
Ngwathe was found to be unable to collect revenue and failed to adopt adequate budgets. And it had no credible financial recovery plans.
In one year alone, unauthorised expenditure grew from under R100-million to over R250-million. This while fruitless spending rose from R31-million to R62-million.
One of the key issues is the water crisis. The court found that many residents go without water for days due to infrastructure failures and poor management.
Despite claims that water quality is monitored, the Department of Water and Sanitation’s Blue Drop Report showed that three of five towns lacked safety plans. Water from Edenville was found to contain dangerously high levels of faecal coliforms.
The risk increased in the updated 2023 Blue Drop Report, which confirmed worsening conditions.
Water crisis
“The allegation that the water from the municipality was not contaminated by faecal matter is false on Ngwathe’s own version. This is apparent from the first report in annexure AA11 attached to the municipal manager’s answering affidavit. It indicates a faecal coliform count of 164 per 100ml, which is far in excess of the SANS 241 criteria. SANS 241 requires it to be less that 10 per 100ml.
“The municipal manager’s denial that Ngwathe continually struggles with the supply of clean water is incorrect. Immediately after his denial, he continued to state that Ngwathe ‘is improving on and working towards alleviating its drinking water challenges’,” reads the court document.
The court ordered the Free State Premier, relevant MECs, and the provincial executive to immediately dissolve Ngwathe’s council and appoint an administrator.
A financial recovery plan must be implemented. And progress reports must be submitted to the court every three months.
