Urgent Exco meeting requested to tackle eThekwini Municipality's court case fallout

The Democratic Alliance in eThekwini has called for an urgent meeting with the eThekwini Municipality’s Executive Committee (Exco) to discuss the impact of recent court cases. 

The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) in KwaZulu-Natal had made an application recently to the Pietermaritzburg High Court against the municipality and Msunduzi Municipality, calling for an immediate reconnection of electricity and water to the Department of Transport offices and licensing centres. 

The eThekwini Municipality claimed that the KZN DPWI owed an outstanding R520 million debt. The High Court ruled that the municipalities must reconnect the services. The matter will be heard on March 26, 2026 

On Saturday, the DA eThekwini caucus leader, Thabani Mthethwa, said the judgment exposes serious failures in leadership that have now placed a heavy and unnecessary financial burden on the residents of eThekwini.

“Cyril Xaba must explain why he refused to engage with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure on a payment plan, despite several attempts by the department to resolve the matter amicably,” he said. 

Mthethwa said the DA leadership warned Xaba repeatedly, but his alleged failure to act responsibly and transparently has now resulted in ratepayers being forced to pay the legal costs for a case that could and should have been avoided.

Mthethwa said that the disconnection of services was also in violation of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the city’s own credit control policy. 

“Senior officials must be held accountable when their actions cause harm to the city and its residents. Accountability must no longer be optional in eThekwini,” he said. 

Mthethwa said that DA in eThekwini does not support or promote non-payment of municipal debt but rather objects to the municipality politicising debt collection processes. 

In a statement from the municipality on Saturday, not directly addressing Mthethwa’s call for an Exco meeting, but rather on the DPWI court case, the municipality stated that the court judgment strengthens its ability to ensure that the DPWI adheres to the payment plan, something it has repeatedly failed to do in the past. 

“Should the department fail to comply with the court-ordered payments, it will be in contempt of court,” the municipality stated. 

The payment plan ordered by the court in favour of eThekwini Municipality is as follows:

• Payment of R50 million to eThekwini Municipality by December 15.
• Payment of monthly instalments, on or before the 30th or the last day of April, May, and June, in the amount of R138,219,993.00.

“It is important to clarify that it was not the intention of eThekwini Municipality to hasten the disconnection of services to affected public facilities. The city has protected the interests of financially-struggling ratepayers of eThekwini, who have historically been used as scapegoats to subsidise the unpaid bills of other institutions claiming financial distress.” 

The municipality emphasised that it has a standing schedule of service disconnections applicable to all government institutions that fail to pay for services. 

“Claims that these disconnections were selective or politically motivated are unfounded and misleading,” the municipality stated. 

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