Quantum Leap Investments (Pty) Ltd and another v Minister of Water and Sanitation and others
20 December 2017
High Court of the Republic of South Africa, Gauteng Division, Pretoria (functioning as Mpumalanga Circuit Court, Middelburg)
Case no. 391/2017
Date: 20 December 2017
Judge: Legodi JP
This matter concerned the legality of a failure by the Minister of Water and Sanitation to suspend the operation of a directive issued to the applicants by the Department of Water and Sanitation in terms of section 53 of the National Water Act, 1998 (NWA) pending the outcome of an internal appeal against that directive to the Water Tribunal.
The applicants argued that section 148(2) of the NWA, which provides that a directive is not suspended pending the outcome of an internal appeal to the Water Tribunal, is unconstitutional for being at odds with sections 25, 33 and 34 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.
The Court found that section 148(2) of the NWA does not offend any of the rights referenced by the applicants and therefore dismissed the application.