Curro Holdings Limited has successfully challenged the City of Johannesburg's decision to disconnect the water supply to Curro Meridian, Cosmo City School.
The Gauteng High Court, sitting in Johannesburg, found that the municipality acted unlawfully by terminating the water supply, an action that stemmed from a disputed municipal account purportedly amounting to over R13 million.
The conflict traces back to a settlement agreement where Curro believed it had resolved its indebtedness to the municipality by agreeing to pay R8 555 790.20, a sum that had been accepted by the municipality as a full and final settlement in December 2022. This agreement was reached following lengthy discussions and correspondence between the parties, which included several meetings and the involvement of various municipal officials. Despite the settlement, the municipality disconnected the school’s water supply on 24 February 2023.
Judge J Windell, presiding over the case, ruled in favour of Curro Holdings, noting that the municipality disregarded the contractual obligations established in their agreement. The judge explicitly pointed out the deficiencies in the municipality's processes, stating that the necessary credit notes that should have reflected the settlement were never passed, resulting in unwarranted disruption of school operations.
The issues began in July 2021 when Curro's attorney filed a dispute regarding the alleged outstanding payments to the municipality, purported to be R13 094 040.82. After multiple interactions among lawyers and municipal officials, a settlement was reached in September 2022 regarding the disputes involving various Curro entities, culminating in acceptance of the R8.5 million amount and the subsequent payments made in December.
However, instead of honouring this agreement, the municipality took actions, including another disconnection of the water supply that ultimately triggered Curro's court application. Despite an initial restoration of services due to intervention from municipal officials, the repeated disconnection on 8 June 2023 led the school to seek an urgent application against the municipality, leading to the recent ruling.
