Top municipal officials may have to dig deep into their own pockets to pay costly high court legal fees after angry Kenton-on-Sea ratepayers served papers on the local authority demanding they improve service delivery.
After five frustrating years trying to work with Ndlambe municipal officials to fix problems in the resort town, Kenton-on-Sea Residents Association (Kosra) chair Simon Oliver yesterday said the gloves were off and they had decided to take legal action earlier this week to try and get results.
According to Oliver, Kosra had also asked the Grahamstown High Court to grant a special order instructing the local authority to get under-fire officials to personally pay legal costs.
“We want the relevant municipal directors and mayor Sipho Tandani to pay the court fees from their own pockets instead of using ratepayers’ money.
“They have not done their job properly and should be held accountable.”
He said over the years Kosra had put a “lot of effort and money” into trying to fix and clean up problems in the town that the municipality should have done themselves.
“We have tried for the past five years to work with the authorities and have had many meetings where they promise to do things but never do.”
This year alone, Oliver said Kosra had spent in excess of R50000 of its own money beautifying and maintaining infrastructure in Kenton-on-Sea while they waited for officials to back up promises they would improve service delivery.
These included: clearing bush, repairing steps and handrails, beautifying the CBD and even tidying gardens around the local municipal offices.
“That is what we have contributed so far. We are more than happy to put back into the local community and help out where we can but we don’t want to sweep streets, weed and do things the municipality should be doing.”
Several attempts by yesterday to get comment from Ndlambe municipality spokesman Khulukile Mbolekwa were unsuccessful at the time of going to print despite calls and messages.
Oliver said ratepayers had made an application for a mandamus order from the high court that would instruct the local authority to address problems regarding the local rubbish dump and repeated sewage spills in the Bushman’s River.— davidm@dispatch.co.za
Officials may foot council bill
After five frustrating years trying to work with Ndlambe municipal officials to fix problems in the resort town, Kenton-on-Sea Residents Association (Kosra) chair Simon Oliver yesterday said the gloves were off and they had decided to take legal action earlier this week to try and get results.
According to Oliver, Kosra had also asked the Grahamstown High Court to grant a special order instructing the local authority to get under-fire officials to personally pay legal costs.
“We want the relevant municipal directors and mayor Sipho Tandani to pay the court fees from their own pockets instead of using ratepayers’ money.
“They have not done their job properly and should be held accountable.”
He said over the years Kosra had put a “lot of effort and money” into trying to fix and clean up problems in the town that the municipality should have done themselves.
“We have tried for the past five years to work with the authorities and have had many meetings where they promise to do things but never do.”
This year alone, Oliver said Kosra had spent in excess of R50000 of its own money beautifying and maintaining infrastructure in Kenton-on-Sea while they waited for officials to back up promises they would improve service delivery.
These included: clearing bush, repairing steps and handrails, beautifying the CBD and even tidying gardens around the local municipal offices.
“That is what we have contributed so far. We are more than happy to put back into the local community and help out where we can but we don’t want to sweep streets, weed and do things the municipality should be doing.”
Several attempts by yesterday to get comment from Ndlambe municipality spokesman Khulukile Mbolekwa were unsuccessful at the time of going to print despite calls and messages.
Oliver said ratepayers had made an application for a mandamus order from the high court that would instruct the local authority to address problems regarding the local rubbish dump and repeated sewage spills in the Bushman’s River.— davidm@dispatch.co.za
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