Durban — The eThekwini Municipality said the DA had a right to approach institutions responsible for dispensing justice where it deemed fit.
The party announced on Wednesday during a media briefing that it had filed court papers at the Pietermaritzburg High Court, to compel the municipality to file a court-approved action plan to address the continued sewage crisis that has overrun the city.
Court papers stated that the DA was taking on the municipality; the MEC for water and sanitation in KZN; the MEC for economic development, tourism and environmental affairs in KZN; the minister of water and sanitation; the minister of forestries, fisheries and the environment; and the minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs.
In its application, the DA stated that it approached the high court seeking to uphold the law and in particular section 24 (a) of the Constitution, which protects the right, enjoyed by everyone, to an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing.
The application was also designed to compel the city to observe and abide by its legal duties under applicable environmental statutes, and to discharge its constitutional duties to ensure functional and adequate waste treatment and sewerage works, as it was obliged to do as a local government authority.
“The application is necessitated by the persistent, systematic and ongoing failure by eThekwini adequately to maintain and operate its wastewater treatment works throughout its jurisdiction, resulting in repeated, continuing and large-scale sewage spillages into rivers, tributaries and water bodies which run into the ocean,” read the court papers.
They also stated that the consequence of the dereliction of the water treatment works infrastructure and operations has been an environmental disaster, devastating the water quality of water bodies and beaches in the city.
They said this affected the health and safety of eThekwini’s residents and inhabitants, which resulted in repeated and widespread beach closures, crippling the economy of eThekwini, and in particular the employment-intensive tourism sector.
eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the city was currently hard at work trying to meet its constitutional mandate of providing basic services to all its stakeholders.
“We permanently subscribe to the rule of law and in the event of anyone taking us to court, we shall always comply with all protocols governing our jurisprudence,” he said.
DA caucus leader Thabani Mthethwa said this was not a rushed decision. He said the infrastructure challenges faced by the city weren’t caused by the April floods but were a result of years of neglect.
“On 10 November, we sent a letter to the city, which called for concrete, tangible steps to be taken to resolve the situation and compliance with the law,” said Mthethwa.
The city was asked to provide a progress report outlining remedial measures taken to rehabilitate and monitor areas affected by contamination from the wastewater plants, leakages and a remediation plan to resolve the long-term challenges posed to wastewater plants and water infrastructure in eThekwini.
The city was given time by the Durban High Court this week to file its replying affidavits in the matter by ActionSA over the sewage crisis at Durban beaches.
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