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Johannesburg - The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has come to the rescue of road users who've seen tyres shredded, suspensions smashed and, much worse, people dying because municipalities can't - or won't - fix potholed roads.
Delmas municipality, near Springs, has been ordered to repair potholes on the R55 to Ogies within 72 hours, according to a lawyer for the Society for the Protection of our Constitution - and, better yet, the case could be used to force other recalcitrant city fathers to do the same.
'First of its kind'
The recalcitrant mayor and his council could also go to jail for 30 days if they don’t move their corporate backsides and comply with the court order. Are you listening, gentlemen and ladies? Jail time! Won't those photographs look great in the news media.
Society spokesperson Mohamed Vawda said this was the first order of its kind and could set a precedent for other towns.
Advocate Zehir Omar, for the society, said Vawda and Willem Harmse, also of the society, complained two or three years ago to the municipality about the state of the busy but disintegrating road. Zip happened.
.
"It is used by trucks, by the rural community," Omar said. "Last week a truck swerved to avoid a pothole, crashed into another truck, and two people died. There was not a murmur in the media or anywhere else.”
Jail order next
Vawda and Harmse then made the application and Judge Naren Pandya appeared apprehensive at first. Omar, however, said the judge’s attention was drawn to people dying and the real risk of more people being killed.
“The judge was persuaded," Omar said.
He added that if Victor Khanye Municipality (Delmas) failed to abide by the order he would apply for an order to jail the mayor and his executive committee for 30 days.
Vawda and Omar also created a stir when, in a low-profile application, they had the words "shoot the boer" declared prima facie incitement to murder, unconstitutional and unlawful.
Pandya was not immediately available to confirm the granting of the order; the municipality was not able to comment on Tuesday afternoon.
Delmas municipality, near Springs, has been ordered to repair potholes on the R55 to Ogies within 72 hours, according to a lawyer for the Society for the Protection of our Constitution - and, better yet, the case could be used to force other recalcitrant city fathers to do the same.
'First of its kind'
The recalcitrant mayor and his council could also go to jail for 30 days if they don’t move their corporate backsides and comply with the court order. Are you listening, gentlemen and ladies? Jail time! Won't those photographs look great in the news media.
Society spokesperson Mohamed Vawda said this was the first order of its kind and could set a precedent for other towns.
Advocate Zehir Omar, for the society, said Vawda and Willem Harmse, also of the society, complained two or three years ago to the municipality about the state of the busy but disintegrating road. Zip happened.
.
"It is used by trucks, by the rural community," Omar said. "Last week a truck swerved to avoid a pothole, crashed into another truck, and two people died. There was not a murmur in the media or anywhere else.”
Jail order next
Vawda and Harmse then made the application and Judge Naren Pandya appeared apprehensive at first. Omar, however, said the judge’s attention was drawn to people dying and the real risk of more people being killed.
“The judge was persuaded," Omar said.
He added that if Victor Khanye Municipality (Delmas) failed to abide by the order he would apply for an order to jail the mayor and his executive committee for 30 days.
Vawda and Omar also created a stir when, in a low-profile application, they had the words "shoot the boer" declared prima facie incitement to murder, unconstitutional and unlawful.
Pandya was not immediately available to confirm the granting of the order; the municipality was not able to comment on Tuesday afternoon.
