Sakeliga pursuing urgent litigation to prevent water cut-off in North West
27 May 2021
The business organisation Sakeliga is currently preparing an urgent court application to ensure water supply in the North West and prevent a local economic catastrophe. This comes after Sedibeng Water instructed on May 25 that water services in large parts of the North West province shall be suspended from June 1, 2021.
The looming disruption affects the entire Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality, as well as the Mahikeng, Ditsobotla, and Ratlou Local Municipalities. It involves towns such as Mahikeng, Lichtenburg, Delareyville, Ottosdal, and Zeerust.
"The state must stop shifting the burden of its internal problems to business people and the local community. Sedibeng Water is an organ of state and does not have the right to suspend services to businesses and the public at large owing to its failure to obtain proper payment from another organ of state, ”says Piet le Roux, CEO of Sakeliga.
"As has already been confirmed in a recent judgment that Sakeliga obtained, an organ of state such as Sedibeng Water may not interrupt its services to paying businesses and the community at large until it has at least complied with the legal prescriptions on intergovernmental disputes. In addition, in this case, Sedibeng Water did not even properly inform or consult local businesses and communities.”