R500 000 contempt fine for city

THE City of Johannesburg has been ordered to pay a fine of R500 000 after being found guilty of contempt of court for failing to implement an order granted more than a year ago.

South Gauteng High Court Acting Judge Allyson Crutchfield found the municipality had not complied with an order granted in March last year to provide a Berea block of flats with a proper electricity bill.

This is despite having been first forced by the same high court to fix the electricity billing challenges faced by Preston Place in 2018.

The Body Corporate of Preston Place, a high-rise building, was first granted a court order against the municipality in March 2018, forcing it to provide a full and precise statement of account of amounts owed by building and duly supported by actual meter readings and/or proper proof thereof, and adjustment of the account and payment of any credits.

A settlement agreement was reached, and a court order was issued.

However, the city of Johannesburg failed to implement the order, and the Body Corporate of Preston Place asked the high court to hold the municipality and then city manager Dr Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni in contempt of court for failing to implement March 2018 ruling.

Lukhwareni was Johannesburg’s city manager between 2016 and February this year.

In March last year, a full bench of the South Gauteng High Court – Judges Leonie Windell, Lotter Wepener and Seena Yacoob – then set aside the March 2018 order after the Body Corporate of Preston Place appealed it.

Judges Windell, Wepener and Yacoob found the City of Johannesburg in contempt of court and fined the municipality R500 000, but also suspended the payment of the fine on condition the municipality complied

with their order within 30 days.

Still, the city of Johannesburg did not comply with the March 2020 ruling, and the Body Corporate of Preston Place again approached the high court to enforce the suspended contempt of court order.

“The respondents’ (the city of Johannesburg and the city manager’s) conduct, objectively assessed, demonstrated in my view wilful and mala fide (bad faith) non-compliance. The finding of wilfulness and mala fides against the respondents is justified, this being the only inference established by the respondents’ conduct,” explained Acting Judge Crutchfield in her October 5 judgment.

According to the acting judge, the absence of the city of Johannesburg’s compliance with the court order, unless it was able to establish conduct that is not wilful and mala fide, is in contempt of the order and obliged to suffer the consequences.

”The respondents failed to advance evidence that established a reasonable doubt that their non-compliance with the court orders was wilful and mala fide,” Acting Judge Crutchfield said.

In its court papers, the city of Johannesburg claimed Preston Place’s meter number belonged to a different complex in Oaklands.

The Body Corporate of Preston Place initially wanted the city of Johannesburg to pay a fine of R1million and for the city manager to be committed to prison for contempt of the March 2020 order by virtue of the municipality’s non-compliance.

City of Joburg spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane said they will be challenging the court order.