Press release - Carolina residents to oppose municipalities' leave to appeal application
Joint Media Statement on Situation in Carolina issued by LAWYERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, LEGAL RESOURCES CENTRE AND THE FEDERATION FOR A SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT MEDIA STATEMENT - 17th July 2012
The Federation for a Sustainable Development and the Silobela Concerned Community, represented by the Legal Resources Centre and Lawyers for Human Rights respectively, yesterday opposed an application for leave to appeal by the Gert Sibande District Municipality and the Albert Luthuli Local Municipality against the judgment and order that was handed down by the North Gauteng High Court on 10 July 2012.
The order compelled the Gert Sibande Municipality to provide temporary potable water to the residents of Silobela, Caropark and Carolina within 72 hours. The order also directed Gert Sibande Municipality to engage actively and meaningfully with the residents regarding the steps that are being taken to ensure that potable water can once again be supplied through the water supply services – including details about where, when, what volume and how regularly temporary water will be made available in the interim.
The decision by the two municipalities to appeal the high court judgement is indicative of the two municipalities consistent refusal to accept their responsibility to provide even the most basic water supply to the residents. We fear that it is an attempt to prolong the court process and hope that by opposing the application, we will find a rapid solution to the shortage of clean drinking water in Carolina and its surroundings.
The application for leave to appeal by the two municipalities suspends the operation of the orders relating to the supply of water to the residents of Carolina, Caropark and Silobela. We have therefore launched an application in terms of Rule 49(11) for leave to execute the judgment in the main application immediately. This would compel the Municipality to provide temporary potable water to the residents of Silobela, Caropark and Carolina pending the outcome of the appeal. The central basis of the application to execute is that the matter concerns the urgent need of the residents to receive a basic water supply.
Since the judgment was delivered, not only have the two municipalities failed to comply with the order, but the situation has deteriorated:
1. On 10 July, in response to the judgment, the Minister of Water Affairs issued a media statement declaring the tap water in Carolina safe to drink. Despite this announcement, the quality of the water supplied through taps has not been of a standard that meets the Standard Limits for Potable Water and is therefore unfit for human consumption. Furthermore, Carolina residents have received an irregular supply of water from their taps with some receiving no water for up to three days.
2. On 11 July, the applicants’ attorneys wrote to the representatives of the two municipalities, seeking to commence the process of engagement ordered by the court. No response was received and no engagement has taken place.
3. Since the day of the judgement, the two municipalities have not filled the water tanks in Silobela, Caropark and Carolina Town in Carolina consistently, resulting in shortages of alternate water for its residents. Inexplicably, the water supply to the Jojo tanks was stopped completely on Monday 16 July.
It is once again evident that while government structures responsible for protecting the most fundamental rights of people refuse to accept their responsibilities: people in Silobela, Caropark and Carolina town continue to go without water or even worse, have access only to polluted water.