This time around, the Water Utilities Corporation's (WUC) water plant in Goodhope has been shut down, and WUC has been prevented from accessing it for purposes of supplying water to the residents of the village of Goodhope and surrounding villages. According to documents in a case in which WUC dragged the JV to court over the issue, the shutdown was done by them. Represented by Kago Mokotedi of Otto Itumeleng Law Chambers, WUC has dragged the Joint Venture (first respondent) and Kelebogile Monnaatshipi (second respondent) to court seeking a Rule Nisi be issued calling upon the respondents to show cause why an order should not be made in the following terms; Directing that the actions of the JV and Monnaatshipi to lock out and deny WUC and its employees' entry and access to the chambers to the water tanks for the supply of water to the villages of Ditlharapa, Molete and Mokatako villages, constitutes an act of spoliation, alternatively an act of self-help and therefore null and void: Ordering and directing the respondents to immediately and forthwith restore the status quo ante before its unlawful actions concerning access to the chambers for the supply of water to the afore stated villages; Restraining the respondents from locking access to the chambers to the water tanks and resorting to self-help with respect to the water supply to Ditlharapa, Molete, and Mokatako, and any other chamber which is in the possession, custody, and use of the Applicant herein and used for purposes of water supply to any village, including the villages of Rakhuna, Ngwatsau, Ramatlabana, Makokwe, Papatlo, Matasalalo, Borobadilepe, Hebron, Logagane, Phihetswane and Marojane. Alternatively, an interim interdict is hereby granted interdicting the respondents from locking out the applicant and its employees from accessing the chambers at the water tanks and thereby cutting off the water supply to the villages to Ditlharapa, Molete and Mokatako or any other village pending the institution and finalisation of a dispute to the Dispute Adjudication Board ("DAB") in terms of the parties dispute resolution mechanism.
According to the founding affidavit by WUC’s corporate secretary Felicity Ziga, the parties entered into an agreement in terms of which the JV was awarded a tender for the construction of the GoodHope Sub-district water supply Scheme 2.2. The commencement date of the project was the 24th of May 2022, while the completion date for the project was the 23rd of November 2023. The end of the Defects liability Period was the 23rd of November 2024. According to Ziga, after the project commenced, a decision was taken between the parties that due to the acute water shortage in the villages of Ditlharapa, Molete, and Mokatako, there must be an early beneficiation connection to the pipeline which was being constructed by the JV.
