It's an issue that's causing a stink over eThekwini – literally.
ActionSA and the Democratic Alliance (DA) are turning on each other amidst their joint legal action against eThekwini Municipality over the state of the city's sewage infrastructure. Both are citing violation of human rights and risk to residents' health and safety due to the city's ailing sewage infrastructure. But, the parties are now embroiled in a public spat after the DA requested a postponement of the court hearing next month.
The DA claims the date clashes with its lawyers attending to another matter on the same date. But, ActionSA is having none of that and has lambasted the DA over the court delay.
"This repeated stalling by the DA demonstrates a blatant lack of regard for the people of eThekwini.These delays enable the continued collapse of basic services while raw sewage spills into rivers, residential areas and oceans forcing beach closures and posing serious health and environmental risks," said Zwakele Mncwango, ActionSA Provincial Chair.
Former ActionSA ward 35 candidate and avid surfer, Saul Basckin an Umhlanga resident north of Durban, also weighed in.
"Once the case is finally heard, it will take approximately three months for a judgment to be made. Even if ActionSA or the DA wins, the municipality can appeal the decision, which would suspend the judgment.
"The appeal process could take an additional six months to a year, followed by another three months for a final decision. This means we are likely to face the same unresolved issues during next year’s local elections and possibly into 2027. One has to wonder if this delay is part of the DA’s plan to maintain political positioning at the expense of meaningful action," added Basckin.
But, the DA has hit back, rejecting the allegations.
"It is a matter of record that the DA is the only party that has steadfastly driven this case, adhering to all rules of the court and best practises to ensure the highest possibly of success, while ActionSA has spent this entire time attacking the DA while never caring about the city’s residents," DA KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Dean Macpherson.
"If ActionSA were 'first' to launch their court case, why has it never been heard? Because they were never able to provide the court with the sufficient information to get the case going. The DA was READY to lead our rock-solid court case on October 3 and 4, 2024 which ActionSA were going to follow when the eThekwini Municipality suddenly deposed 2,500 pages of affidavits less than 30 days before the case was set to be heard.
"This was akin to torpedoing the battleship leaving the DA and the court no time to wade through the affidavit they dumped on the court. While ActionSA insisted on having the case heard in the interests of scoring cheap political points, the DA was insistent that time must be given to adequately respond to the city’s affidavit. Anything less than this was reckless, irresponsible and an act of sabotage by ActionSA.
"Our legal team, who are highly trained professionals, have a case in the Constitutional Court which clashed with the date set by the court after ActionSA attempted to bomb our case in October 2024," Macpherson said.
IOL