eThekwini given 10-day ultimatum to file answering affidavits on sewage case

8 August 2023

The DA has applied to the Pietermaritzburg High Court for an order compelling the eThekwini Municipality to file its responding affidavits as agreed to between the municipality and the DA (view papers here).

The municipality was supposed to file its complete response to the DA’s papers by 15 June 2023 and has thus failed to abide by the agreed court order. It has therefore made it impossible for the DA to respond to the municipality so that the case can proceed to the opposed roll and be argued before the court.

This is no doubt a deliberate attempt by the eThekwini municipality to frustrate and drag out this case in the hopes that the DA will not proceed.

We have therefore given the municipality until 09 August 2023, to file its complete papers and 10 days to file their answering affidavit, as well as seek condonation from the court for ignoring it’s instructions.

Should the eThekwini Municipality fail to do so, the DA will immediately move to have their opposition to our case struck from the roll and seek an order that our relief is granted without delay. We will also seek all costs to be paid for by the municipality.

This level of disrespect for the court is what residents in eThekwini experience daily. We will not allow this situation to drag on for any longer than it has.

If the municipality has nothing to hide, then they should have no problem in filing their papers and proceeding to have our case heard.

We will now do so with or without them.

Issued by Dean Macpherson, DA KZN Chairperson, 8 August 2023