The City of Cape Town is heading to the Gauteng High Court to fight for more than R400m of what it says is owed to its residents from the 2010 World Cup.
“We will fight for justice and the return of the R429.4m owed to our residents. It is a long road ahead of us, but we are very prepared to walk it. We will not be thwarted by delaying tactics intended to try and demotivate us,” it said in a statement on Sunday.
This comes after the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission resolved that municipalities which had incurred losses of approximately R112bn, from the building of stadiums, would not get any compensation out of the settlement that government reached with the construction companies involved.
“The only punishment that these massive companies face is the creation of a R1.5bn slush fund which they are now coerced to contribute toward and which is supposed to further transformation. The construction industry should be prioritising transformation in any case,” the City said.
“It is simply ridiculous that ratepayer’s money (which construction companies stole) is being used to help them diversify. Essentially, residents are paying for the crimes and failures of construction companies.”
Condemnation for municipalities
The City of Cape Town went on to condemn municipalities which agreed to the arrangement, saying that they had failed themselves and their residents.
“National government should be ashamed that it misled the country into thinking that municipalities would be compensated for collusion by construction companies.”
The City said its attorneys had approached the deputy judge president of the Gauteng High Court to appoint a case manager to oversee the matter.
“A judge was appointed to ensure that interim issues currently being used to stall the process will be expedited. The first court hearing, to deal with a number of technical points raised by the companies, will take place on December 2.
“We want to assure the residents of Cape Town that we will remain steadfast in the pursuit of justice and compensation for the losses which they have incurred,” it added.
