Eastern Cape pensioners must give back the road grader they seized, court rules

The Mthatha High Court has ordered residents of Ugie to release the municipal grader they seized during a road dispute. Photo: Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

• The Mthatha High Court has told pensioners from Ugie to give back a municipal grader they seized.
• They took the vehicle in protest at the failure of the Elundini Local Municipality to fix their access roads.
• The residents raised money for their own grader but then, they say, the municipality sent a grader which damaged the work which had already been done.
• The court also told them not to do any more “self-help” on municipal property.

Pensioners from Ugie in the Eastern Cape have been told to return a municipal vehicle they seized during a dispute over road repairs.

The Mthatha High Court ruled on Tuesday that the Elundini Local Municipality could remove a municipal grader from Elalini village. Last month, the municipality took several residents, mostly elderly people, to court after they refused to allow municipal officials to remove the grader.

They wanted the grader to remain in the village until the municipality finished repairing gravel access roads to Elalini and four surrounding villages.

According to residents, the grader was sent to the area last September to fix roads. This was after the elderly residents had raised about R20,000, with help from their children, to hire a private grader to repair the road.

Residents claim the municipal grader damaged the work that had already been done and the municipality failed to fix the damage, prompting them to seize the grader.

In court, advocate Nonkululeko Mxotwa, representing the residents, argued that they had acted on instructions from municipal officials who had told them to safeguard the grader until the work was completed.

But Judge Gerald Bloem said he was not prepared to hear the full merits of the dispute yet. Instead, he granted an interim order allowing the municipality to retrieve the grader, since it might be needed elsewhere.

Mxotwa told the court that residents did not oppose the municipality taking back the grader, but they wanted the road repairs completed.

Judge Bloem ordered one of the residents, Phelisile Hlwathika, to allow the municipality to collect the grader from his premises, where it had been kept. He also interdicted the residents from interfering with the grader or from obstructing municipal officials, or from “engaging in acts of self-help regarding municipal property”.

Resident Khayakazi Mdludlu said young people had tried to help their parents fix the road after repeated appeals to the municipality had failed.

“What our parents want is simple, they want the municipality to fix the road so they can access basic services like any other citizens,” she said.

“Our parents are voters. They deserve access to ambulances when they call them and access to transport. But right now they have to walk long distances before they can reach a taxi, hire a car, or even ride a horse to get to the hospital. Ambulances often have to wait about three kilometres away because they cannot reach the village.”

She said young people in the village would meet to discuss the next steps. A broader community meeting is also expected this week.

Advocate Samkelo Maliwa, for the municipality, described the court decision as a victory.

On 14 April the court is expected to hear the full matter and decide whether the interim order should be made final.

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