Durban - The Pietermaritzburg High Court yesterday dismissed an application lodged by Umgeni Water’s former board members for an urgent interdict to stop the new board recently appointed by Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu, from operating.
Former board members, including Visvin Reddy, Siboniso Shabalala, William Mapena, Teboho Nkhahle, Nompumelelo Chamane, Mbali Ndlovu, Simonsenkosi Chamane, Suleman Badat and Thandwa Mthembu, had applied for an urgent interdict to prevent the new board from assuming office and performing its functions.
The second part of the application, which has not yet been argued in court, was for an order to review the minister’s decision to appoint the board.
The respondents in the matter are Sisulu, Umgeni Water and members of the new board. Sisulu opposed the application.
The former board members argued in court papers that Sisulu had “disbanded a lawfully constituted board” without giving board members notice and that she had simultaneously installed “an unlawfully constituted” interim board.
They argued that her decision to terminate the board was “substantively” and “procedurally” irrational and that it was ultra vires (beyond) the minister’s powers to appoint an interim board in terms of the Water Services Act.
The applicants argued that there was “reasonable apprehension of irreparable harm” to them and to the public if the interdict was not granted, should “unlawful decisions” be taken by the interim board. However, director-general Mbulelo Tshangana had argued in court papers on behalf of Sisulu that there was nothing before the court to suggest that the board members had no right to serve on the board or that they would make unlawful or bad decisions.
He argued that the board had to be disbanded because previous minister Gugile Nkwinti had not obtained Cabinet approval before appointing it, a point the former board members had countered was not legally necessary.
In his ruling, Judge Pieter Bezuidenhout dismissed the application with costs, stating that there was no evidence of irreparable harm that would be caused to the former board members or the public if the interim board was not interdicted from operating.
“Further, there is nothing to indicate that the interim board members are incapable of fulfilling their functions, that they are not equipped to make decisions and that there is any real possibility of any wrong decision being made. There is accordingly nothing that will show that it would be in the public interest that the interim board be stopped from performing their functions,” he said.
However, he said the former board members did have a right to review the minister’s decision, although the second part of the application was not currently before the court.
Sisulu said in a statement yesterday that she welcomed the judgment, which showed that the former board members’ claims could not be proved.
She said she hoped the judgment would “send a clear message to all who serve in public institutions regardless of level that we are all here to serve the people of South Africa and implement the policies of the government”.
However, Reddy said it was premature for any of the parties to start “popping the corks” because the crux of the argument would be heard by the court when Sisulu’s decision was reviewed and she would have to show the procedures followed in appointing the new board.
The Mercury