Poultry giant Astral Foods has taken government, including National Treasury, to court and won a landmark order to secure better service delivery at municipal level in the Standerton area, where it has one of its biggest processing facilities, says a Moneyweb report.

The group confirmed the order was successfully obtained in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) due to ‘poor service delivery’ from the Lekwa Local Municipality in Mpumalanga.

Astral, SA’s largest integrated poultry producer, described the level of service delivery in Lekwa as ‘untenable’.

The cash-strapped and mismanaged municipality has faced growing protests from both business and the local community over non-delivery of basic services, which has even resulted in sewage spills into the Vaal River.

‘Astral decided to take extraordinary steps in launching legal proceedings against the provincial and national government to hold them accountable for the failures in municipal service delivery in Standerton,’ the group noted in a statement on the matter.

‘The impasse with the municipality with regards to water and electricity supply has had a major disruptive impact on Astral’s operations within Standerton. Unfortunately, the goings-on have also negatively impacted on people living in the town and surrounding areas.’

The group pointed out that in terms of the agreed High Court order, national government will now intervene in the municipality and, together with Treasury, will prepare a financial recovery plan as per the Municipal Finance Management Act.

‘Astral is very hopeful that this will not be necessary and that the parties will instead work together to turn the situation around in the interests of all stakeholders,’ the group added.

Full Moneyweb report