Court ruling: Westville Ratepayers Association loses rates case against eThekwini Municipality
The Durban High Court has dismissed the Westville Ratepayers Association's (WRA) application to challenge rates charged from 2005 to 2008, affirming the eThekwini Municipality's compliance with legal requirements
The application was brought against the city by the WRA.
The association claimed that the municipality did not comply with all relevant legislations, more especially a legislation that required the city to publish the rates promulgation in the provincial gazette.
The municipality disputed this and said it had complied with the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and published the promulgation in the gazette.
Reacting to the judgment today, eThekwini Municipality Mayor, Councillor Cyril Xaba, said the municipality welcomed the judgment as it demonstrated the city's commitment to conduct its business within the framework of the law.
'Residents must rest assured of our commitment to run a clean, accountable and transparent administration. I strongly believe in the constructive resolution of disputes and that if residents are not satisfied with the manner in which the municipality runs its affairs, my door remains open for engagements,' said Xaba.
The WRA was not available for comment at the time of publication.
THE POST
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
IOL News
a day ago
- IOL News
Opposition parties demand action over eThekwini's costly legal disputes
Pressure is piling on eThekwini Municipality mayor Cyril Xaba to take action after the City incurred legal and interest costs after failing to pay a service provider. Image: File Photo Opposition parties in the eThekwini Municipality have called for accountability from the officials who have caused the City to incur costs in a R30 million tender legal battle between the City and the service provider which ended up in the Constitutional Court. Last week, the Constitutional Court dismissed the City's leave to appeal the Supreme Court of Appeal judgment - the City wanted the upper courts to overturn the Durban High Court ruling in 2022 which ordered it to pay Daily Double Trading an amount of R30 million as a settlement to the R43 million claim the company had made for work done. The City's argument was that it did not authorise an attorney who reached a settlement with the service provider therefore it could not be liable for the payment, however, the City did not oppose the matter in court. With the matter dragging on from 2018 at a cost of 10% interest, the City is now liable for an extra R20 million in costs - with significant legal costs on top of this. In the wake of the Concourt decision, the DA on Sunday called for the immediate suspension of City Manager Musa Mbhele and his referral to the Financial Misconduct Board. In a statement, the party said the damages stem from the municipality's 2013 decision to cancel contracts with Daily Double Trading 479CC, adding that courts previously ruled that the cancellation was unlawful. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading 'The DA believes that, as the head of the city's administration, Mbhele has a duty to safeguard public funds and not act recklessly when ratepayers' money is at stake. The party believes that his conduct in this matter warrants a formal investigation by the Financial Misconduct Board and that he should be suspended from his duties pending the outcome. "The City manager had every opportunity to comply with previous court orders related to this matter but refused to, in the process, wasting public money to defend the indefensible,' said the party. Joining the calls, ActionSA provincial leader, Zwakele Mncwango also called on Mbhele to be liable as an accounting officer or else tell the council who had provided legal advice to him to continue defending the matter after several court judgments. Mncwango also questioned the capabilities of the City's legal services unit as the continued dismissal of the case right up to the Constitutional Court meant that the City had been receiving poor legal advice. 'There is a serious problem here, whether Mbhele was appealing this matter (based) on his opinion that the City legal services are incompetent. It is not a legal opinion but a political one,' said Mncwango. The EFF's eThekwini chairperson Themba Mvubu said while his party commended the effort by the municipality to try and save taxpayers' money, there was a need find the officials who illegally authorised to negotiate a settlement with the service provider, without the necessary authority.
IOL News
2 days ago
- IOL News
Constitutional Court dismisses eThekwini Municipality's appeal over R30 million payout
eThekwini City Manager Musa Mbhele. Image: Supplied The Constitutional Court has dismissed eThekwini Municipality in its long legal battle over R30 million payout to the service provider, Daily Double Trading 479 cc /Pholobas Projects. The municipality had approached the apex to appeal an earlier Durban High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that favoured the service provider. The Constitutional Court said the application brought by the municipality bears no reasonable prospects. The city revoked its contracts after discovering anomalies in the company's tender award during its investigations a few years ago. It was reported that in 2021, the company took the municipality to the Durban High Court, demanding that the cancellation of the contracts and blacklisting be declared unlawful, and for the court to rule that the municipality was indebted to it in the sum of R44.1m the amount owing for the cancelled contracts. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ However, before the Concourt could hear the matter, an out-of-court settlement was reached by the parties. A deal was struck where a municipal attorney, identified as Mr Moloi at the time, agreed that the municipality would give Daily Double R30 million as a settlement for its illiquid damages. According to the affidavit of City Manager Musa Mbhele, when this came to the attention of the former city manager, Sipho Nzuza, he refused to approve the R30 million payout. 'He stated he would not approve such a transaction as no one, including himself, had the authority to sanction payments above R30 million. He said whoever had told Moloi to strike a deal with Daily Double had been misguided,' Mbhele wrote in his affidavit. Mbhele stated that Nzuza indicated that this matter would need to go before the eThekwini full council for a decision. 'This matter was never placed before the council, and Nzuza made it clear in his affidavit before the High Court that he had refused to sanction the questionable settlement,' he added. Former eThekwini city manager Sipho Nzuza. Image: Zanele Zulu / Independent Newspapers Mbhele said that to this day, he has no idea who authorised or told Moloi to offer the company R30 million. 'If the municipality were to pay this money, no one would account for it,' he said. Additionally, Mbhele said this case raised questions of law that will impact not only eThekwini Municipality but also other municipalities throughout the country. He said the case required the Constitutional Court to clarify the ambit of an attorney's competency to enter into settlements in respect of municipalities and similar organs of state.
The Herald
3 days ago
- The Herald
Several successful projects unveiled by MDBA
Since it was established in 2003, the MBDA flourished and it did so due to an enabling and stable political environment, an era predating coalition government. It is important to remember that the MBDA is intrinsically linked to its shareholder through several accountability measures, and all of these are founded on two key pieces of legislation, the Municipal Finance Management Act No 56 of 2003, the Municipal Systems Act and various regulations that set the tone for accountability. The legislation gives council the authority to appoint the accountability structures, the board of directors, the members representative committee and equally important, the independent audit committees, and council has the sole means to hold them to account. The establishment of audit committees in municipalities and municipal entities is a critical requirement under the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) to ensure sound financial governance. As part of their responsibility for financial administration, accounting officers (CEOs) must take all reasonable steps to establish and maintain effective, efficient and transparent systems of financial and risk management, internal control and internal audits that adhere to prescribed norms and standards (sections 62 and 95 of the MFMA). Furthermore, Section 166 (1) of the MFMA mandates that every municipality and municipal entity must have an audit committee, which plays a crucial oversight role. It is evident that these structures and accountability measures are at the disposal of the parent municipality to exercise control over the entity. In addition, the Acts also encourage meaningful public participation and stakeholder engagement in the activities of local government, and that is why platforms such as this are necessary, to keep the citizens and ratepayers informed and involved. When I joined the MBDA in June 2023, the entity's plans for the 2023/2024 financial year were already set and in motion. I accepted that I would work with what I inherited while rebuilding and refocusing the entity for the following year, 2024/2025, the financial year we are currently in. Our goals for 2024/2025 are lofty, and that is to achieve record institutional performance in terms of budget expenditure and service delivery focused key performance indicators ( KPIs). We adopted the 95% budget expenditure performance framework as it applies in our sector, and I am happy to report that we are firmly on track. However, there are only two impediments that are now beyond our control, they are the termination of the construction contract related to Moore Dyke due to disputes with the contractor, and the capital funds earmarked for multipurpose centres that are wholly inadequate and cannot be spent fruitlessly. As evidenced this week, on Tuesday we held the official handover of the Helenvale Extension 12 community park developed at a cost of nearly R4m from a co-funding agreement between the municipality and the German Development Bank, KFW. The park is set up to promote safety and peace and planted with indigenous fauna that is self-sustainable. The work included the construction of a seated pavilion area, paved pathways, a five-a-side and netball court, children's play area and outdoor gym facility. This milestone was achieved due to improved focus on project delivery and accountability we introduced, known as the 'war-room' with one main objective, to unblock and troubleshoot project management. On June 11, we will unveil yet another key community development project that has reached completion and is ready for use. The New Brighton community waste drop-off site came from pleadings by the community through the ward councillor and was facilitated with the assistance of the public health directorate. The project is a solution to rampant illegal dumping in the area which creates health hazards. We also recognised this as an opportunity to turn waste into economic potential, so we trained community co-operatives that will be managing the site in partnership with the municipality. Built at a capital cost of R5.5m, the project created much-needed work opportunities in that community and will provide a lasting solution to illegal dumping. On the tourism asset development front, the St Peters Rainbow Village will finally open to receive local, national and international visitors. By securing the property, the MBDA could protect the heritage of the area and restore some dignity for those who called South End home for decades. The remains of the church represent one of the last remaining structures from the 1960s forced removals. Going beyond the restoration of the old church, we have created a unique and must-see tourism offering that will appeal to all markets. The rehabilitated St Peters Rainbow Village now offers a space for outdoor events, educational and community activities, a small amphitheatre, and the opportunity for guided tours celebrating South End's rich history and culture. Also, in June, as part of initiatives to commemorate 22 years of urban redevelopment, we intend to honour a former leader and founding member of the first democratic local government of the Bay. An individual that played a leading role in shaping the vision that enabled the existence of the MBDA, someone who represents a cohort of collective leadership that provided a conducive environment for the MBDA to flourish. The phrase 'Without vision, the people perish' is from Proverbs 29:18 in the Bible. It means that without a clear goal or direction, people become unrestrained, cannot focus and cannot reach their goals. The phrase emphasises the importance of having a clear vision or goal, and currently it is difficult to identify what the current vision is for the Bay. The Herald
