The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) regards the Tshwane Metro’s court application to curtail the role of private fire-fighting services as a catastrophic governance failure and an act of procedural recklessness that needlessly exposes the community to danger.
This legal case, currently being pursued against Fidelity SecureFire and the Sinoville Fire-Fighting Association, is based on assumptions. It is also the exact opposite of the advice I received during my tenure as Mayoral Committee Member for Community Safety.
The Metro’s conduct demonstrates that it is ignoring the serious financial realities faced by its department.
The role that private services could play as a complementary force – by reducing response times in emergencies – is also disregarded.
With this application, the Tshwane Metro Council has deliberately chosen to provoke conflict at the expense of residents, even though it is within its power to conclude a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with private entities, entirely independent of the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA).
The City is already on its third team of legal representatives in this case – clear proof of internal mismanagement and tax money being squandered.
During a pre-trial application in terms of Rule 30A of the High Court by Fidelity SecureFire, the Court confirmed that the City had unlawfully added the national and provincial Departments of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs as applicants in the case. This led to a punitive costs order against the City. These procedural errors have diverted substantial funds away from critical service delivery.
The claim made in court that private services unlawfully block traffic is absurd, as temporary road closures protect lives and ensure the safety of emergency personnel.
The argument that private services may not draw water from fire hydrants, even in extreme cases, is reckless. The doctrine of necessity clearly stipulates that saving lives and protecting property must always take precedence over bureaucratic procedure.
The Metro’s legal representative’s assertion that a subscription model is unlawful is outrageous, as it is a standard commercial model for specialised services and not an illegal levy. There is no provision in the Fire Brigade Services Act or any other legislation that prohibits it, and this model is a lawful exercise of the right to trade.
The Freedom Front Plus demands that the Metro immediately halt further legal action in this matter and stop wasting public funds on fruitless litigation.
Furthermore, the party would like to see the Metro cooperate with private service providers through an MOU, instead of working against these entities.
The Freedom Front Plus has requested the Minister of COGTA on several occasions to urgently draft and promulgate the necessary regulations that will provide the essential legal framework for cooperation with private fire-fighting services.
