One of the Western Cape's biggest cheese manufacturers, Ladismith Cheese Factory, has taken the cash-strapped municipality of Kannaland to court.
The cheese factory hauled the council representatives to the Western Cape High Court for the “lamentable quality” of water it received from the municipality.
Lawyers for Ladismith Cheese Company said their client and two other parties acting as co-applicants, approached the high court for an order aimed at addressing challenges and problems related to the supply and maintenance of the water infrastructure, and to have those issues addressed and remedied in a structured manner.
Hendrik Verwoerd said : “Resolving those issues will benefit not only all businesses in the area, but also employees, and the community in the Kannaland Municipality and the greater area. The application was postponed to allow the parties time to file opposing and replying papers and/or to resolve the issues which necessitated the application.
“Ladismith Cheese is hopeful that the issues can still be resolved with the cooperation of the parties involved. ”
An employee at Department of Water and Sanitation’s technical services department, also detailed some of the concerns which included cadre deployment in crucial positions at the municipality. The water quality supplied to residents and the industry was poor.
The source said that the problem of poor water quality was particularly concerning since another cheese manufacturer, Lactalis, had recently decided to invest R140 million in Bonnyvale, Kannaland.
Kannaland mayor Jeffrey Donson said they have inherited the problem from the ANC and DA coalition. He stated that they were addressing the problem and confirmed that the case was in court.
Donson admitted that the council was being sued by the cheese factory.
“We are working on addressing all the issues, but water has been a problem in the whole country. The council has been under administration since December 2016,” he said.
He added that the Western Cape High Court ruled in August that the administration in Kannaland was unconstitutional and illegal.
“We have only been in charge for six months now. What nobody has been able to do since 1994, and in the last seven years, everyone suddenly expects us to do in six months.
“This particular problem is getting attention like all the other problems. We are quite advanced with this problem. We will not be silent while there are problems,” said Donson.
DA constituency head in Kannaland, Eleanor Bouw-Spies, called on Donson and the municipality to take appropriate action.
“This is once again just proof that the people who are appointed and occupy the positions are incompetent to carry out the work for which they were appointed. Mismanagement and corruption are two of the biggest evils in the municipality and it is a vicious cycle that repeats itself with each term," she said.
Agriculture MEC Ivan Meyer described the municipality as “sad” and said this latest fiasco did little to improve the situation.
“Investors look for political stability, service delivery, accountability, and a capable state before they make investment decisions.
“The best thing anybody can do for agricultural development is to have a functional and well run municipality. Kannaland is sad and tragic story of incompetence and poor leadership at municipal level,” Meyer said.
Weekend Argus