City of Johannesburg’s manager Floyd Brink. (Papi Morake/Gallo Images)
- The sheriff is set to arrest Johannesburg City manager Floyd Brink in connection with a case that stems from a water disconnection dispute.
- The arrest has been delayed due to a typo in the warrant.
- Brink’s impending arrest follows a court ruling against Johannesburg Water for unjustly disconnecting water, which escalated an electrical business’s bill significantly.
The sheriff of the court is expected to arrest City manager Floyd Brink on Wednesday, sources have told News24, after a Johannesburg business’ water was disconnected for an alleged contravention of an August court ruling that stems from a dispute over a massive water bill dating back to 2022.
According to a well-placed source, the sheriff arrived outside Brink’s Roodepoort home at around 06:00 on Wednesday to enforce a warrant but 13 unmarked vehicles prevented the sheriff from doing so.
“The vehicles came in an entourage pushing up against us saying we can’t enforce the warrant because it says ‘Blink’, a typo for Brink,” the source said.
The arrest is expected to be effected after the spelling mistake is corrected.
The debacle comes after Pibir Investments, an electrical import business, flagged a query with the City after its water bill went from R17 565.11 in December 2021 to R138 775.72 in January 2022.
The court order
On 15 August 2023, Acting Judge Yasmin Carrim ordered that the City and Johannesburg Water should not disconnect the property, pending the outcome of an application to have the water bill corrected.
The order included the reversal of the water levy and sewage charges and the correction of the statement to match the property’s functioning water meter.
Carrim further ordered that the city and Johannesburg Water were prohibited from any actions involving terminating or restricting business services or any more legal proceedings.
But, two days later, Johannesburg Water and the Johannesburg Metro Police Department arrived at the business and disconnected the water supply.
Birch said it took 10 days for the water to be reconnected and he headed back to court to have the City held in contempt.
In February, Judge Leonard Twala in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg ordered that Brink should be imprisoned for 30 days, which was suspended for a year on condition that neither the City nor Johannesburg Water be found in contempt.
The city was meant to fix the billing issue. However, according to Pibir director Crispin Birch, the company account was credited but the City did not come to the party.
Speaking to News24 on Wednesday, Birch said he had to approach the High Court again on Monday to have the warrant enforced because police would not do so.
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