City’s legal eagles at snail’s pace

It takes about four to six months, or even longer, for the eThekwini municipality’s legal team to take up cases lodged by the housing unit against tenants who cause trouble or illegally occupy council property.

The slow pace at which the city’s legal unit functions has prompted calls from opposition parties for a skills audit to be done in the department.

The deputy head of housing in the municipality, Yunus Sacoor, told The Mercury that there were about 100 cases that had been referred to the legal department several months ago for action to be taken. The department is still waiting for the city’s legal unit to deal with those cases.

“The time it takes for the legal unit to deal with the cases depends on what kind of action has to be taken. It also depends on the backlog in the legal section. Sometimes cases sit with them for four to six months,” he said.

Sacoor said his department sent regular reminders to the legal unit to “fast-track” the cases. “Obviously our legal department is not fully capacitated and has a shortage of resources,” he said.

It would be in a better position if it could explain why it took so long to attend to cases, he said.

IFP councillor Prem Iyir said comments made by the housing unit during a meeting with the municipal public accounts committee last week, that it had not received feedback on at least 100 cases that had been referred to the legal unit, were of “serious concern”.

“We need to investigate the number of cases that are being handled by the city’s legal department, especially because the housing unit was fingered in the Manase and Associates forensic investigation into fraud and corruption… But we also need to get the legal department’s views on why there is a delay on so many cases,” said Iyir.

DA caucus leader Tex Collins said the city’s legal unit lacked specialists who could handle a wide range of cases.

Collins questioned whether the city had a legal person who was a specialist in town planning issues, saying the municipality once hired a lawyer for R1.5 million specifically to deal with a by-law case.

“Even when a lawyer who specialises in a specific field is employed, the employment contract must state that they would also be required to work on other issues. There should be a skills audit done in that department because the city loses more cases than it wins,” said Collins.

The legal unit did not get around to responding to The Mercury’s request for an explanation as to why it took so long to deal with its cases – despite having been given nearly a week to comment.