Pietermaritzburg High Court water outage: Investigation uncovers sabotage

A source within the Msunduzi Municipality has revealed that an investigation on the water outage, which only affected the Pietermaritzburg High Court and Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DLRR) buildings, was an act of sabotage.

The suspicion of sabotage was first revealed by EFF councillor in the municipality, Chuma Wakeni, on Thursday.

The municipality, according to Wakeni, was looking into the suspicion that an individual had deliberately turned off the water supply to the adjacent court and DLRR buildings.

Municipality spokesperson, Ntobeko Ngcobo, said the water supply in the two buildings was restored on Wednesday evening. 

The DLRR building also houses KwaZulu-Natal’s only Deeds Registry offices.

Scores of property practitioners, some travelling long distances, were left frustrated on Wednesday when they arrived at the Deeds Registry office in Pietermaritzburg only to find that it had been closed for more than a week due to a water outage.

The Office of Chief Justice Mandisa Maya had on Wednesday announced the temporary closure of the High Court due to the water outage.

In both buildings, water had hindered the use of staff and public toilets. 

On Friday, the source said the municipality’s investigation had found a possible act of sabotage through deliberate switching off of water valves inside the two buildings. 

“There was sabotage, which targeted the Deeds’ office and the High Court as valves were switched off inside the buildings.

“The municipality technicians were busy searching for the problem in its pipes and found nothing, only to find that the problem was inside.

“It is not known who did this for what reason, but they found that after a long search,” said the source. 

When asked about the allegations of sabotage, Ngcobo said Municipal Manager Felani Mndebele would hold a media briefing on Tuesday to talk about how the matter would be handled. 

She said the briefing would also address the issue of electricity outage in the CBD this week, which was due to a strike by municipality employees.

DLRR spokesperson Linda Page said the water supply at the DLRR building was restored on Thursday. 

According to an official from the Office of the Chief Justice, who asked not to be named as she is not a spokesperson, the water supply at the High Court was restored on Thursday. 

“The court operations resumed today.

“The only destruction was on the day the notice from the Office of Chief Justice was handed out (Wednesday),” said the official. 

The Deed Registry offers services such as registration or transfer of ownership of immovable property from a seller to a buyer, registration, and cancellation of mortgage bonds against a property, and it also registers various legal documents such as antenuptial contracts, deeds of servitude, and sectional title plans.

Some of the Deeds Registry employees on Wednesday said they get to work but leave after 9am, a daily occurrence since taps ran dry on February 11. 

Workers blamed the Msunduzi Municipality for the water cut-off. 

“We have not been working all these days because occupational, health, and safety does not allow the office to operate where there is no water.

“Workers would report for duty at 8am and leave at 9am because there is no water to flush toilets,” said one of the employees early this week. 

Some people had complaints about travelling long distances to get services at the Deeds Registry office, only to be turned back on arrival.

Wakeni had said the suspicion of sabotage was based on the fact that most parts of the city have a normal water supply, but only these two essential public institutions had dry pipes.

bongani.hans@inl.co.za