With service delivery in the City of Joburg (COJ) — Africa’s financial hub — a rare occurrence, the city’s officials have been consistent in drawing the ire of the courts with the patience of the judiciary seemingly running out.
Perhaps the judiciary’s frustration with the cases emanating from the city’s debt collection methods are best captured by a recent judgment by acting judge C Badenhorst, who called out the debt collection methods deployed by the city, describing them as unprincipled and an abuse of rate payers.
In a judgment that calls for stronger enforcement mechanisms, including potential personal liability for officials and legal advisers in cases of “repeated noncompliance,” Badenhorst said the cases the court has had to deal with reveal the continued “corrosive impact of unchecked power” on the city’s debt collection practices.
“Additionally, it underscores how a specific group of lawyers, frequently retained by the CoJ, persistently pursue unmeritorious arguments, undeterred by the facts of the individual cases,” Badenhorst said, ruling in favour of ratepayers who had their electricity illegally switched off by the city.
“This culminates in unnecessary high court litigation for those few who can afford to seek relief, while many less-fortunate customers no doubt remain at the mercy of an indifferent officialdom. Consequently, severe financial burdens and hardships are imposed on customers and ratepayers.”
The city, home to Africa’s largest stock exchange, the JSE, and several of SA’s blue-chip multinationals, has been decaying at a rapid speed.
The decline in services and lack of maintenance of basic infrastructure has coincided with political instability ushered in by unstable coalition governments.
The city, home to more than 6-million residents, has had 10 executive mayors since 2016, with city managers also coming and going.
This attitude demonstrates a troubling indifference to accountability and oversight, coupled with a marked disregard for the authority of the court.
— Judge C Badenhorst
The city’s accounting and billing has been in shambles for years, forcing residents to approach the courts for recourse.
“It is disturbing that despite the same disquiet having been expressed in no less than six recent judgments of this court, commencing with a ‘stern warning’ in a judgment in January 2023, the city officials and their legal advisers (who are once again involved in the cases under consideration in this judgment) appear to treat this court’s concerns with disdain.
“This judgment confronts the grave and far-reaching consequences of continued abuse of power with unflinching resolve.
“It is alarming that, despite the two judgments in [Peter] Millu [a ratepayer who took the CoJ to court over his erroneous billing] and at least three other decisions of this court — which contained explicit warnings against repeating the same unacceptable conduct — was directed to be brought to the attention of the mayor, the city manager, the head of revenue collection, and the chief legal adviser — the grave concerns expressed by the deputy judge president in the March and April 2024 [Millu] decisions appear to have been disregarded.
“This attitude demonstrates a troubling indifference to accountability and oversight, coupled with a marked disregard for the authority of the court.”
To show disdain to ratepayers is one thing, but to use the same ratepayers’ money to take to court hopeless cases paints a picture of officials oblivious to their constitutional responsibilities.
All the while, the city, which should be the crown jewel of SA’s industrialisation, is breaking at the seams. As Badenhorst suggests in his scathing judgment, something has to give to restore the city to its original mandate to provide services to its residents services in a fair and transparent manner.
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