Ruling in AfriForum case helps schools against municipal bullies
Legal action by AfriForum against the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality in May this year now appears to be of use to schools in other municipal areas as well. At that time, AfriForum provided legal assistance to schools after their power supply had been unfairly cut off by the Tshwane Metro. The resulting court order of 5 May 2026 determined that the municipality may no longer terminate the power supply to any schools due to the provincial government’s failure to pay property rates. When the municipality resumed this action in June, they were threatened with a contempt of court application and the affected schools’ power supplies were immediately restored.
According to Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s Head of Cultural Affairs, it has now come to the attention of the organisation that it is not only schools in the Tshwane Metropolitan area that are being targeted in this manner by municipal authorities. Legal representatives of schools in Johannesburg have just approached AfriForum’s legal team with a request that the relevant court documents and orders be sent to them, as they are facing a similar problem in Johannesburg and would like to study AfriForum’s arguments and the ensuing court order.
Like AfriForum, the other legal team emphasises that the injustice of authorities holding the public in general and school communities in particular accountable for their own internal mismanagement, cannot be tolerated
“It is disappointing to learn that this problem is not unique to one metropolitan area, but also occurs elsewhere,” Bailey says. She invites schools elsewhere that are experiencing this unjustifiable bullying behaviour of municipalities to contact AfriForum. “Learners’ access to safe school facilities and quality education must not be compromised due to the poor internal payment arrangements of authorities. AfriForum will gladly assist schools to protect them against this,” she adds.
Information about similar interruptions to schools’ electricity supply may be sent to onderwys@afriforum.co.za.
