Johnathan Paoli
THE City of Johannesburg has denounced an attempt by the Sheriff of the Court to serve a warrant of arrest on City Manager Floyd Brink, following a legal dispute over rates owed to the metro by a resident.
The Sheriff attempted to effect the warrant on Brink on Wednesday but failed due the warrant being defective, specifically relating to a spelling error in Brink’s surname as well as an incorrect ID number.
In addition, the Sheriff was blocked from delivering the warrant at Brink’s Roodepoort home by 13 unmarked vehicles which blocked the way.
The saga involves electrical import business, Pibir Investments, which flagged a query with the metro after its water bill experienced a disproportionate increase from R17 565 in December 2021 to R138 775 in January 2022.
On 15 August last year, Acting Judge Yasin Carrim ruled that both the city as well as Johannesburg Water be prohibited from disconnecting water from the property, pending the outcome of an application to have the water bill corrected, including the reversal of the water levy and sewage charges and the correction of the statement to match the property’s functioning water meter.
However Joburg Water and the city’s Metro Police Department arrived at the business and disconnected the water supply.
Pibir director Crispin Birch said that it took 10 days to reconnect the water supply and subsequently appealed to the court to hold the City in contempt.
Judge Leonard Twala from the South Gauteng High court ruled in February that Brink should be imprisoned for 30 days, which was suspended for a year on condition that neither the metro nor Johannesburg Water be found in contempt.
Birch said that while the company account was credited, the city remained uncooperative and dismissive in its interaction with the Pibir.
The director said he was forced to approach the high court again on Monday to have the warrant enforced following the failure of the police to do so.
Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda weighed in on the matter and condemned what he referred to as “abuse of the legal system” to harass city officials, and said that Brink and his family’s rights were undermined.
Gwamanda said that in light of the matter arising from Brink’s official capacity as City Manager, the warrant should have been served at the office and not his private residence.
The Mayor said Brink has been the target of incessant harassment by certain political actors using the courts to compromise and prevent him from exercising his duties.
“This attack on his person and character has now been orchestrated to embarrass and target him and his family, and to create a public perception that the City Manager is a suspect in a criminal matter. The City takes a dim view of this abuse and ill-intent,” Gwamanda said.
Gwamanda said the City’s legal team intends to lodge an urgent application to block the execution of the warrant and said disputes should not be weaponized but dealt with by the available dispute resolution mechanisms that were in place.
But the DA caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku accused the city’s administration of being willing to abuse its power to undermine the rule of law in an attempt to protect Brink.
“These actions by police make them part of our corruption problem instead of helping us solve crime and corruption,” Kayser-Echeozonjoku said.
The warrant is expected to be served again following the correction of the errors on the document, however it remains unconfirmed whether it will take place at the city manager’s office or his residential home.
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