KNYSNA NEWS - A Thembalethu High Court judge has described the Municipal Manager, Lulamile Mapholoba, as the "brain" behind the lights being switched of at the Knysna Mall during the Freedom Day weekend last year.
Judge Daniel Mafeleu Thulare agreed with mall owner Grey Elephant Investments (GEI) that the switch-off had been "engineered to cause it maximum harm".
Following a three-year long dispute over debt the GEI allegedly owes the municipality, the municipality cut off the electricity to the mall at around 13:45 on 25 April 2025, a Friday afternoon preceding the Freedom Day long weekend.
The power cut affected the whole mall and deprived retail, commercial and residential tenants, including the municipality's own town planning and building control department offices - a total of 77.
"The conduct for all intents and purposes closed business at the peak period," Thulare said in his judgment.
On the same day, GEI brought an urgent application to have it turned on again, which was granted in the chambers of Judge MR Dolamo.
Application for reconsideration
In a critical judgment delivered last Wednesday, 11 February, Thulare dismissed the municipality's application for reconsideration with costs.
Thulare said the timing of the disconnection and its business implications for GEI and its tenants, as well as the "probably designed" unavailability of people who could instruct the municipality's attorneys to oppose the application at the most critical time, left GEI with no option but to approach the court without notice to the municipality.
He described the Municipal Manager, Lulamile Mapholoba, as the "brain" behind the switch-off.
Brain behind it
About the original ex-parte application that heard verbal evidence at which the municipality was not present, Thulare said:
"Knysna Local Municipality (KLM) was the author of its own misfortune and cannot be heard to complain that it was not served [with papers]."
He said the notice email for the urgent application did not come to the attention of Mapholobe as he was on a flight from George to Johannesburg when it was served.
He had left his laptop in his office in Knysna and nobody else had access to the email addresses to which the notice was sent.
He said Mapholoba was the brain behind the disconnection and had gone ahead with it despite the reservations of the Mayor, Thando Matika.
"The mayor could not reach the municipal manager, the chief financial officer or the director of corporate services - as their numbers were off - to intervene when the power was shut off and GEI approached him. The head of legal services of KLM did not have the delegated authority to deal with the matter."
GEI's application confirmed
Thulare found in favour of GEI and confirmed the urgent application (rule nisi) that sought the immediate restoration of the electricity supply to the mall that same day.
He issued a cost order against the municipality, dismissing its application for reconsideration following the granting of the urgent application.
Thulare said in his judgment that GEI "cannot be [faulted] to conclude that the conduct of the involved KLM officials was engineered to cause it maximum harm with reckless disregard for the rights of the retail, commercial and residential tenants who were not party to the dispute with KLM".
The timing of the disconnection and its business implications for GEI and its tenants, as well as the "probably designed unavailability" of officials who could instruct the municipality's attorneys to oppose the application at such a critical time, left GEI with no option but to approach the court without notice to the municipality, he said.
'Undue advantage'
"Disconnection cannot be used to gain some undue tactical or strategical advantage to pending litigation. KLM did not complain about urgency or that there was no imminent harm."
Thulare said the municipality cannot be allowed to wield its power and force its residents to pay contested accounts, without following statutory provision to resolve those disputes.
"KLM must deal with the underlying disputes and resolve them. Where the processes are already under way and litigation is pending, KLM must respect judicial proceedings instead of taking obfuscatory approaches. Its taking of spurious and rejected arguments as jurisprudence relied upon is worrying. KLM must tread carefully when it deals with rights and cannot be a bewildered litigant," added Thulare.
Review application
Unresolved disputes of accounts are pending following a separate application brought by GEI questioning the municipality's tariff policies on rates.
The disputes between KLM and GEI are to be determined by the pending review application, which includes the application of the tariff policies of KLM, according to Thulare.
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