GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - On 10 February Graaff-Reinet Advertiser reported that the Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipality (DBNLM) instituted legal proceedings against Herotel in the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court, Grahamstown.
The municipality sought an order declaring Herotel's trenching, excavation and construction work related to fibre and telecommunications cabling within its jurisdictional area unlawful.
It also included that Herotel should be ordered to terminate their contravening actions and reinstate and restore to their original condition all roads, verges and pavements which they trenched, excavated or caused damage to within ten days of the order.
On Tuesday 22 February the court ruled in favour of the municipality and the interdict was granted.
At this point the municipality's way forward concerning the installation of fibre in Graaff-Reinet is unclear. In terms of the documents that were filed with the court, the municipality received a letter from RC Civils in January and then had to consider their application since, according to the letter, RC Civils applied for a wayleave for the installation of fibre in Graaff-Reinet in 2019.
However, RC Civils is a "building and civil engineering construction company with a national footprint in commercial, industrial and residential developments" but has no track record of fibre installations.
In addition, it is alleged that RC Civils does not have a license from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) and that they can, therefore, not even be considered for the installation of fibre.
Reportedly, local SMME, Mjazu Trading (Pty) Ltd, who allegedly also applied for a wayleave for the installation of fibre in Graaff-Reinet, was not mentioned in the court documents.
Herotel previously stated that they are not the only company installing fibre in Graaff-Reinet. It has since been established that Openserve already installed fibre and it is alleged that their application for a wayleave was approved within a week after submitting it to the municipality.
The wayleave was granted based on them upgrading existing infrastructure, but apparently, the installation of fibre was a new installation and cannot be considered an upgrade.
Graaff-Reinet Advertiser has submitted requests for comment to DBNLM, RC Civils and Openserve and will publish any responses as soon as it becomes available.
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