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The Durban High Court has issued an order allowing the DA to say that:

“The outgoing Mayor of eThekwini, the outgoing Municipal Manager, and the outgoing Head of Water have failed in performance of their functions, and have been negligent in the performance of their functions regarding the state of water services and the procurement of water tankers.”

Furthermore, the Mayor did not succeed in getting an order to force us to apologise for the billboard.

The court order does not require the DA to make any formal apology for the flighting of the billboard, nor any published content relating to the billboard.

In the Court’s order it provides:

“Nothing in this order prevents the DA from criticising the Mayor, Municipal Manager and Head of Water, for the performance of their functions, the state of water services and infrastructure, the procurement and management of water tankers, or from campaigning on those matters, including by asserting that any of the Mayor, Municipal Manager or Head of Water has failed in, or been negligent in, the performance of his or her functions.”

The DA welcomes this from the Court, and our position remains clear: The outgoing Mayor Cyril Xaba, outgoing Municipal Manager Musa Mbhele and outgoing Water and Sanitation Executive Director Ednick Msweli have failed in their functions and must be held accountable for eThekwini’s water crisis.

The City has approximately 13,000 active water leaks and loses an estimated 21 billion litres of treated water every month. Years of neglected infrastructure, failed planning and inadequate management have left communities without reliable water and increasingly dependent on costly tankers — creating conditions in which the water tanker mafia can thrive.

It is also a good thing that the Court ruled the following may not be said about eThekwini’s leadership, because these are not allegations that the DA has ever made, so the Court’s ruling takes nothing away from our campaign:

• eThekwini’s Mayor, Municipal Manager and Head of Water are members of or associated with the Water Tanker Mafia,
• eThekwini’s Mayor, Municipal Manager and Head of Water are complicit in, or knowingly profit from the Water Tanker Mafia,
• eThekwini’s Mayor, Municipal Manager and Head of Water are members of, associated with or complicit in a criminal syndicate or organised criminal enterprise connected with water tankers.

Our billboard called on the officials responsible for eThekwini’s water system to stop the conditions that allow the water tanker mafia to thrive while residents remain without water in their taps.

It is very important to note that the Court Order does not apply to any media houses, or members of the public who have commented on, or communicated the DA’s billboard, therefore the media and public who have published images of the billboard are not affected by the ruling.

The people of eThekwini deserve reliable water, responsible management of public funds and leaders who accept accountability for their performance.

The DA will not be deterred by this legal action, which has attempted to prevent legitimate criticism of leaders who “failed in performance of their functions, and have been negligent in the performance of their functions regarding the state of water services and the procurement of water tankers.” They must be held to account.

On 4 November, residents can hold the outgoing administration accountable at the ballot box. If every DA voter turns out to vote, we can vote them out.

The DA calls on voters in eThekwini to stand with us to stop the chaos and start service delivery in eThekwini.

Issued by DA eThekwini mayoral candidate Haniff Hoosen