The Madibeng local municipality has obtained a court order from the Pretoria high court stopping a protest that has disrupted municipal operations.
The order was granted by Judge Mmonoa Teffo on Wednesday after the municipality approached the court on an urgent basis.
In its application, the municipality cited 10 respondents, some of whom are ANC councillors, whom it claims were involved in protest actions that prevented municipal officials and employees from performing their duties.
The court granted a provisional court order, calling the respondents to come to court on May 25 to give reasons why the interim order should not be made final.
In the interim order TimesLIVE has seen, the respondents were interdicted and restrained from unlawfully disrupting or interfering with municipal officials and employees, or preventing them from accessing municipal premises.
The single whip of council, Peter Padi, who is also one of the respondents, told TimesLIVE that the ANC councillors who are respondents on the matter want to challenge the court order but lack the funds to hire a lawyer to oppose the interim order.
He said a response team sent by province to intervene failed to engage with municipal manager Quiet Kgatla and mayor Douglas Maimane as they refused to meet the councilors. “The community members rejected our advice as councilors to stop the protest and they said they will continue protesting,” Padi said.
In its application, the municipality argued that the protest actions were disrupting its operations and preventing staff from carrying out their duties.
Madibeng residents have been protesting since March 9, raising concerns over service delivery in the area.
The concerns raised in the protest include the issue of no service delivery as the residents had no water for more that two weeks.
They also demand the arrest of Kgatla and Maimane.
The Madibeng councilors and residents also alleged that there were irregularities in the appointment of Kgatla and that he did not comply with required regulations.
Allegations have also surfaced that some contractors that were appointed by the municipality did not follow proper procurement processes.
The council of the municipality previously asked an ad hoc committee to investigate governance failures and allegations of wrongdoing within the municipality.
The members of council also called for an investigation in terms of the Municipal Systems Act to probe allegations of corruption, maladministration and irregular decisions at the municipality.
The court’s interim order will remain in place until the matter returns to court in May, when a judge will decide whether to make the interdict permanent.
TimesLIVE
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