In an interim order, Judge Festus Gura sentenced the Kgetlengrivier s municipal manager to 90 days imprisonment, suspended, and agreed to allow the residents’ association, Kgetlengrivier Concerned Citizens, to take control of the waterworks, paid for by local and provincial government. The judge also gave the municipality until 1 March 2021 to demonstrate why the interim order should not be made final.
In the op-ed, Potter draws on SERI s recently published case study on how the Harrismith Water Heroes in Maluti-a-Phofung are claiming their community s water rights by fixing their town’s water infrastructure, largely at their own cost. Potter argues that as innovative as self-provision undoubtedly is, water is a public good and it is profoundly risky for water services providers to operate without public oversight. She writes that while the agreement reached in the Kgetlengrivier case might present a short-term solution to rehabilitate and run water services in small rural t
On 18 December 2020, the North West High Court declared that the Kgetlengrivier Local Municipality was in breach of its constitutional obligations and that it had failed to supply potable water to the residents of Koster and Swartruggens. Further, the court found that its wastewater treatment works were mismanaged and in a state of disrepair.
In his interim order, Judge Festus Gura sentenced the municipal manager to 90 days imprisonment, suspended, and agreed to allow the residents’ association, Kgetlengrivier Concerned Citizens, to take control of the waterworks, paid for by local and provincial government. He gave the municipality until 1 March 2021 to demonstrate why this interim order should not be made final.