ActionSA Welcomes High Court Victory and Awaits Judgment on Own Application in eThekwini Sewage Crisis
Press Statement by Zwakele Mncwango
ActionSA KZN Provincial Chairperson
ActionSA welcomes the Pietermaritzburg High Court’s judgment, marking a victory in our legal battle to hold the eThekwini Municipality and the implicated government departments accountable for the devastating sewage crisis.
Regrettably, although the High Court heard ActionSA’s application alongside the DA’s latecomer application in July, the Court has now separated the judgments. ActionSA’s judgment is not yet ready, despite the fact that the relief granted in the DA’s application mirrors the precise relief originally sought by ActionSA as the first party to have initiated the legal action.
In November 2022, ActionSA initiated legal action against the eThekwini Municipality, with the DA only joining in June 2023, opportunistically dovetailing onto ActionSA’s fight after we had identified clear and sustained violations of residents’ constitutionally enshrined rights to a safe and healthy environment, as well as their right to economic development.
As ActionSA has consistently argued, the eThekwini Municipality must comply with its legal obligations to repair and upgrade the severely dilapidated sewer infrastructure at the heart of this disaster, which has had devastating consequences for the city, its economy and its residents.
ActionSA is proud to have led this fight from the start on behalf of the residents of eThekwini, to compel the municipality to end its shocking indifference to this crisis.
ActionSA will await the High Court’s judgment on our application, which has been inexplicably separated.
ActionSA Welcomes High Court Victory and Awaits Judgment on Own Application in eThekwini Sewage Crisis
ActionSA welcomes the Pietermaritzburg High Court’s judgment, marking a victory in our legal battle to hold the eThekwini Municipality and the implicated government departments accountable for the devastating sewage crisis.
Regrettably, although the High Court heard ActionSA’s application alongside the DA’s latecomer application in July, the Court has now separated the judgments. ActionSA’s judgment is not yet ready, despite the fact that the relief granted in the DA’s application mirrors the precise relief originally sought by ActionSA as the first party to have initiated the legal action.
In November 2022, ActionSA initiated legal action against the eThekwini Municipality, with the DA only joining in June 2023, opportunistically dovetailing onto ActionSA’s fight after we had identified clear and sustained violations of residents’ constitutionally enshrined rights to a safe and healthy environment, as well as their right to economic development.
As ActionSA has consistently argued, the eThekwini Municipality must comply with its legal obligations to repair and upgrade the severely dilapidated sewer infrastructure at the heart of this disaster, which has had devastating consequences for the city, its economy and its residents.
ActionSA is proud to have led this fight from the start on behalf of the residents of eThekwini, to compel the municipality to end its shocking indifference to this crisis.
ActionSA will await the High Court’s judgment on our application, which has been inexplicably separated.