The Free State High Court has ordered the cash-strapped Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality to reconnect residents whose electricity was disconnected.

A community organisation, the Harrismith Intabazwe Tshiame (HIT) Residents Association, dragged this troubled municipality to court to overturn its decision to disconnect residents from the power grid.

The chairperson of the organisation, Willem König, says they won the court case against the municipality after two of their members’ electricity was cut without following a dispute resolution process.

In a two-page judgment, Judge Ilse van Rhyn ordered the municipality to restore all affected residents’ power and to desist with disconnecting electricity without following due process.

König tells OFM News that “for years the municipality has not been able to issue regular municipal accounts. Currently no regular accounts are being handed out. On 8 February,  MAP disconnected the electricity supply of two members of the Harrismith Intabazwe Tshiame Residents Association without any notice”.

He says both members have section 102 disputes registered with the municipality, but it failed or neglected to address these disputes.

Source: ofm.co.za

By Dirk

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