Recycling company sues rural municipality for R1.6m

A municipal landfill site in Cofimvaba is the subject of a fierce battle between municipal authorities and a private waste recycling company.

Intsika Yethu municipal bosses have slapped Lithalethu Waste Recycling and Primary Co-operative with an eviction notice to stop working at the landfill site.

But Lithalethu is fighting back and is now suing the municipality for R1.6m for breach of contract.

The Dispatch has seen the court papers filed in the Mthatha high court by Lithalethu’s legal representative, Msebi Attorneys, in November.

Among them is a notice of motion filed by Intsika Yethu municipality’s lawyers, Keightly Sigadla, in March to evict Lithalethu from the landfill site.

The Dispatch was unable to establish if the municipality had been granted the eviction order.

In the notice of motion, the municipality indicated that in January it had served a notice of termination to Lithalethu and afforded it 30 days to vacate the dumpsite. But the company would not budge.

In their lawsuit, the company stated that the contract had been made verbally and that the issue of when it would expire had not been discussed by either party.

It also stated that the municipality had cancelled the contract without notice.

Lithalethu's Ntombosindiso Nhanha said on Tuesday the municipality had brought a private company to dig up their already stockpiled and sorted recyclable materials that they were preparing to sell to recycling companies.

She said as a result they were now languishing in debt as they owed salaries to people they had hired to help sort and stockpile.

They also owed people who often gave them recyclables on credit, whom they usually paid once they had sold the goods.

“This company took all the collected waste material that was ready and threw it outside.

“To make things worse, it dug up trenches and now we are unable to get the materials we already sorted to go and sell,” she said.

Nhanha said the municipality had not even produced a court order and just started chasing them out of the landfill site since last year.

Intsika Yethu municipal spokesperson Zuko Tshangana said the municipality was aware of the lawsuit but declined to comment further.

“This matter is already in the court of law. The court processes to resolve the allegations have started.

“The municipality is unable to comment at this point as the matter is sub judice.

“Once the ruling is made by the court, a full statement will be issued.”