DA in eThekwini asks court to compel city to produce plan to tackle sewage crisis

The eThekwini municipality faces another court challenge over the ongoing sewage crisis, which has seriously affected businesses, tourism and the economy. 

The DA in eThekwini has filed papers in the Pietermaritzburg high court to compel the municipality to produce a court-approved plan to address the crisis.

Briefing the media on Wednesday, DA KwaZulu-Natal chair Dean Macpherson said the party had been gathering information for its legal action for months as it wanted to ensure its case was solid.

“We want to have a structurally sound interdict by the court for the municipality to comply with directives issued by the KwaZulu-Natal departments of economic development, tourism and environmental affairs (DEDTEA) and water and sanitation. These directives date back to 2019 and they have identified the problems in the municipality that need to be dealt with to stop the sewage crises. They have either been partly complied with or have not been dealt with at all.”  

Macpherson said the quickest way to ensure the city complies is to use national legislation through government-issued directives that must be adhered to.  

The DA wants:

• the decision by eThekwini not to report sewage spills as an “emergency” declared a violation of the National Environmental Management Act;
• the decision by eThekwini not to file or produce an “action plan” or comply with directives from provincial and national government issued as far back as January 2019 declared irrational, unreasonable, unlawful and unconstitutional;
• that within one month of the date of the court order, eThekwini must file a plan to address noncompliance identified by DEDTEA and set measurable deadlines for progress;
• interested parties to be given an opportunity to comment on the “action plan”; and
• eThekwini to report on progress and what it has achieved within six month of the court order.

The DA's court bid comes after ActionSA’s Durban high-court case regarding the sewage crisis was postponed on Monday until April. 

ActionSA approached the court to compel the government to attend to the crisis. It was joined by Abantu Batho Congress as friends of the court in the matter.

The eThekwini metro and tourism ministry have not yet responded to the papers filed by ActionSA late in 2022. Both parties must reply by the end of March, with the matter set to return to court on April 3.

Macpherson said DA had asked for the matter to be heard as soon as possible. 

TimesLIVE