ESTCOURT – A group of 38 foreign national business owners has filed an urgent application at the Pietermaritzburg High Court against the Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality and its mayor, seeking the return of their business keys and the right to resume trading in Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal.
The applicants, all sole proprietors operating in the Estcourt region, allege that municipal officials and the mayor unlawfully took possession of their business premises in April, locking them out and preventing them from operating. Their court application seeks an order compelling the municipality to return their keys and cease what they describe as unauthorized interference with their properties.
Ain Singh, the instructing attorney representing the group, confirmed the legal action and clarified the scope of the application. “The reason for the application today is because of them being unlawfully dispossessed of their businesses where their keys have been taken from them by the municipality and the mayor at the time and they’ve not been able to operate,” Singh stated.
Singh emphasized that the case does not challenge lawful authority. “This application is not about stopping or preventing lawful policing or lawful immigration checks or anything that needs to follow lawful procedures. It’s simply for them to continue trading and for the municipality and the mayor to conduct whatever processes and procedures they need to lawfully and not take the law into their own hands at self-help.”
Addressing questions regarding the applicants’ legal status, Singh affirmed that those represented in the application are operating within the law. “In respect of the applicants that we represent, their lawful papers have been put up there and they’ve all got registered businesses with CIPC. So the people that we represent and are before court with the operations they are according to our instructions legal.”
The group is requesting that the court declare the municipality’s actions unlawful and interdict further harassment of their business properties unless authorized by due process. The matter is set down for urgent hearing in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
