Johannesburg - A case dealing with a municipality's ability to terminate services to ratepayers who refuse to pay their rates and taxes will be heard in the Constitutional Court early next year, Business Day reported on Wednesday.
The case deals with a resident of Kroonstad, Olga Rademan, who paid for her services but not her rates and taxes, the newspaper reported.
Because she did not pay her rates, her electricity was cut despite her having paid for that.
Rademan is a member of the Moqhaka Ratepayer and Residents Association, who are unhappy with the municipality's service delivery.
Business Day reported that the case would resolve a conflict between the Electricity Regulation Act, which limits when a municipality can cut off a resident's electricity, and the Municipal Systems Act, which gives a municipality powers to terminate services as a revenue collection tool.
The case has been in courts since August 2009.
The municipality has argued that it cannot be expected to go to court each time it wants to discontinue the services of a ratepayer who defaults. - Sapa