Is the Makhado Municipality acting in contempt of a court order and will the municipal manager be arrested?

An attorney´s letter has requested the municipal manager to furnish reasons why his client should not apply for a formal order to have him arrested and incarcerated because of contempt of court.

The attorney’s letter followed recent activities of the Makhado Municipality on the farm Outlook of the Oldreive estate. The estate obtained an interdict against the Makhado Municipality in the Magistrate’s Court of Soutpansberg in August 2005. The order had been served on the Makhado Municipality.

The court order prohibits the Makhado Municipality from entering the farm Outlook without a court order or the permission of the trustees of the Oldreive Trust.

According to the attorney’s letter, the municipal manager instructed a municipal grader and tipper truck to pass through the farm, carrying yellow gravel to the farm Alexandra, also known as Mphephu’s Kraal or Songozwi. These activities to repair the road on the farms Alexandra and Outlook took place over a period from August 23 to September 15 this year.

The court case arose from an incident in December 2004 when the gate of the farm Outlook of Mr Bill Oldreive was bulldozed by a group of people from the Songozwi-community, members of the SAPS and officials of the Makhado Municpality. Municipal equipment was utilized to scrape an access road through the farm to the royal ancestral graveyard on the farm Alexandra.

At the time of the court case in 2005, the magistrate reasoned that the right of way for the five Mphephu families was at all times based on arrangements on humanitarian grounds between the families and the Oldreive estate. Judgement was given that the municipality “restitute the damage incurred on the farm Outlook as a result of unlawful conduct”. The court also prohibited the municipality from entering the farm without a court order and the municipality was further ordered to pay the costs.

The driver of the tipper that recently entered the farm Outlook confirmed that he had acted per instruction of the municipal manager, says the letter of the attorney.

Apart from the violation of the court order, the attorney says that it seems as if the expenses incurred by the Makhado Municipality to repair the road on private farms, is a “fruitless and unauthorized expenditure of taxpayers’ money …” As a consequence, the municipality might have to construct roads on all private farms at the expense of the municipality.

The municipal manager is asked to furnish reasons within 15 days from the date of the letter. The reasons should indicate why the Oldreive Trust should not apply for a court order to have the municipal manager arrested. The reasons should also include why the incurrence of unauthorized expenditure should not be reported to the auditor general for further investigation and possible criminal steps.

“This matter will also be reported to the hotline of President Zuma for further investigation,” states the letter.

The letter is dated September 28 and was delivered by registered post and by hand. The 15 days expired on October 12. Ten days later, the media´s request for comment and answers to certain questions were received by the municipality.

On October 25, the municipal manager, Mr Shadrack Tshikalange, told the Zoutpansberger that he would investigate the matter. “They said to respond in 15 days, but I only got the letter on October 22,” Mr Tshikalange said.