The municipality says the attachment of the goods has had no impact on service delivery. File Picture: Durban City Hall. Picture: Khaya Ngwenya African News Agency (ANA)
Durban - Engagements with the company that attached assets belonging to the eThekwini Municipality last week have started in earnest, with the city saying it is optimistic that the goods will be returned as a matter of urgency.
The municipality told The Mercury yesterday that no agreement had been reached yet between the legal representatives for the company and the city’s legal representatives.
Last week the municipality was left red-faced, with councillors and workers’ unions demanding answers after the sheriff descended on the city’s electricity unit and started attaching assets to satisfy a R30 million debt the municipality owes to a private company in terms of a high court order. Cars, chairs, telephones and computers were seized after the company, Daily Double Trading 479 CC trading as Pholobas Project, served a warrant of execution on the municipality.
Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the city had not reached any agreement with the company, nor had it taken any legal action, saying: “It (legal action) became unnecessary after engagements between the legal teams over the weekend. The assets were attached after the Durban High Court refused the municipality’s leave to appeal application on August 24, 2022. The plaintiff had already issued a warrant of execution on May 26, 2022, which was executed on August 25, 2022.”
Speaking on when and if the assets would be returned, Mayisela said: “It should be soon, but no date has been fixed yet because today (Monday) is the first available business day for the parties to engage.”
However, Mayisela was adamant that the seizure has had no impact on service delivery.
“Employees were moved to other offices, and customer services at the site were not affected.”
However the assertion that there had been no impact on service delivery was challenged by labour unions, councillors and ratepayers alike.
Queen Mbatha of the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) said most of the computers seized belonged to the human resources unit within the electricity department.
“Therefore the HR personnel servicing electricity are without tools. Queries cannot be addressed. The vehicles are definitely for service delivery and employees cannot go out because of this,” she said.
Asad Gaffar, the chairperson of the Westville Ratepayers’ Association, said they wanted answers. In a letter they have written to the office of the mayor, the association said: “As the Westville Ratepayers’ Association, we are very concerned after becoming aware that an attachment order was granted against the municipality.”
It posed questions to the city including:
– The issue was brought before the courts in February, so why was this not attended to already?
– Was this matter brought up for discussion at an exco or full council meeting, and what was the outcome?
– What measures have been put in place to resolve this issue, or will this be a loss to the municipality and we as the ratepayers have to ultimately bear the cost?
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said they had not been briefed in detail about the incident, but they had asked for a full report on it.
“One hour of people not working in that department has a huge impact,” he said. He added that he was aware that more assets had been scheduled to be attached at the city hall, but this action had somehow been averted.
“The incident was deeply embarrassing for such a big municipality and has undermined the confidence that people have in the municipality. There are business people who might become reluctant to invest in the city after such an incident,” said Nkosi.
DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa said they had asked for a full report to be tabled with a view of disciplining those who were supposed to act to prevent “this embarrassing incident, but failed to”.
“Cars and computers were taken, and obviously the seizure of so many assets has a direct impact on service delivery.”
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