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The sewage spilling at the door of the Thohoyandou library.

NGO files "perjury" charges against municipal managers

 

An NGO that uses the legal system to try and ensure proper service delivery in local communities, has filed criminal charges against the Vhembe and Thulamela municipal managers. Limpopo Legal Solutions claims that the two officials have lied in sworn affidavits in a case that appeared in the Thohoyandou High Court three weeks ago.

On June 2 this year, the Limpopo Mirror reported on sewerage spilling from a pipe at the Thohoyandou library. Residents who often visit the library said that the situation had been like that for quite some time. They had apparently complained about the mess, but that it was not attended to.

Limpopo Legal Solutions (LLS), a non-profit organisation based in Polokwane, decided to take the authorities to task and on 5 June a letter was written to the Vhembe District Municipality, urging them to attend to the problem. The organisation gave the municipality 48 hours to respond. When this period had expired, they brought an application in the Limpopo High Court, asking for an urgent interdict to force the municipality to do their job.

When the application was heard on 14 June, it was dismissed by the judge, because it was not necessary to grant an interdict to fix something that had already been fixed. According to Mr Kevin Maluleke from LLS, the judge’s decision was based on the sworn affidavits of the two municipal managers, Mr Reuben Rambado from Vhembe and Mr Hlengani Emmanuel Maluleke from Thulamela. In the affidavits they, among others, argue that the pipeline was fixed shortly after they became aware of the problem.

In his answering affidavit, Rambado argues that the responsibility to attend to the pipeline does not lie with the Vhembe District Municipality, as the spillage occurred on the premises of the Thulamela Municipality. He stated in his papers that he was informed by the Thulamela Municipality that the problem was sorted out on the 31st of May, a statement that was confirmed in his affidavit by the Thulamela municipal manager, Mr Hlengani Maluleke.

While still licking their wounds, the LLS received a letter from the Vhembe District Municipality, acknowledging receipt of their letter sent on 5 June. The letter states that the District Municipality had visited the site on 10 June. “The pipelines were repaired on the 10th June 2017, and the flow is currently running,” the letter reads.

This “admission” of the District Municipality that the problem was only fixed on 10 June did not go down well with LLS. They were already upset because the court did not want to believe them and dismissed the photographic evidence they wanted to produce.

“We are considering appealing the judgment,” said the LLS’ Kevin Maluleke earlier this week. According to him the judge’s decision was based on false information. Because of the seriousness of the matter, the LLS opted to file criminal charges at the Thohoyandou police station.

The spokespersons for the Thulamela and Vhembe municipalities were asked for comment on Tuesday, but at the time of going to press none of them responded.

 

Date:09 July 2017

By: Anton van Zyl

Anton van Zyl has been with the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror since 1990. He graduated from the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg) and obtained a BA Communications degree. He is a founder member of the Association of Independent Publishers.

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