Department welcomes court ruling in water pollution case
September 27, 2020
Eskom’s efforts to recoup its many bad debts got a knock in court last week, when it was ordered to restore power to disconnected and throttled municipalities. A report in The Citizen notes that Eskom was ordered to restore full power to two municipalities in the Free State and Mpumalanga, after throttling apparently led to untreated sewage leaking into one of Gauteng’s main water sources. The utility cutting power to a municipality in Mpumalanga had also forced the closure of a clinic, leaving hundreds of patients without access to life-saving medication and treatment. In handing down the order, Acting Judge Anthony Millar – sitting in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) – described the power utility as ‘the proverbial cholesterol in the municipal service delivery breakdown’ in the Ngwathe and Lekwa municipalities. The Vaal River Development Association and the Lekwa Ratepayers’ Association took Eskom to court after it moved to cap their power supplies in line with limits previously agreed to with the municipalities. This was the first time Eskom applied a throttle in response. In the past, the utility had instead levied a penalty. As a result of the most recent action, the municipalities were forced to implement their own load shedding. The associations argued this, in turn, led to water reticulation problems and some 200 000 people’s untreated sewage flowing into the Vaal River system. Eskom’s stance was effectively that this was not its problem, but rather the municipalities’.
But Millar, in his judgment, pointed out that Eskom had a monopoly on bulk electricity supply. ‘There is no other supplier that the municipalities could approach,’ he said. ‘The consequence, besides the fouling of the river system and its effect downstream, has been a deterioration in the quality of the drinking water of the residents with a commensurate increase in the risk of illness,’ he said. He found the throttle was ‘wreaking havoc on the lives of the residents’ and that they had a right to sufficient electricity. In addition to ordering full power be restored, Millar interdicted the municipalities from implementing their own load shedding, the report in The Citizen goes on to state. This pending a judicial review of Eskom’s action. Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said his offices were still studying the judgment.
