A street in Kensington.
The Kensington Community Association has enlisted the services of the Legal Resource Centre as it prepares to take its fight for natural gas to Egoli Gas.
IOL reported last week that residents of Kensington and surrounding areas were unhappy after the private gas company announced its intention to stop supplying gas in the area, citing business reasons.
About 500 homes in the Kensington community are believed to be using the piped natural gas supplied by Egoli Gas.
Other affected nearby suburbs include Bezuidenhout Valley, Malvern, and Bertrams, old Joburg suburbs that are still connected to the underground gas pipelines.
According to a notice sent to residents, Egoli Gas said it needed to shut down about 300 kilometres of pipes that were supplying the old Joburg suburbs of Kensington, Bez Valley, Bertrams, and others as it had taken over the pipelines from the city.
It said the pipeline now needed to be shut down or replaced.
“The rate to replace submerged pipelines to the latest SANS standards is not economically viable and beyond our financial capability,” they said in the notice.
In a notice sent to Kensington residents this week, the Gas Task Team of the Kensington Gardens Association assured residents that they had secured a legal team led by the “world-renowned Legal Resources Centre (LRC) - which was established in 1979 by former Constitutional Court judge Arthur Chaskalson”.
“Our attorney is the highly respected Moray Hathorn, who is working with us to appoint a suitable advocate to represent us in the High Court.
“Highly respected legal advocacy groups contacted our legal team, offering their assistance as well, so watch this space,” they said.
The KCA said it was pushing ahead with plans to interdict Egoli Gas from terminating services in the area.
They said they were confident the court would grant the interdict.
“We remain confident that our legal challenge will be successful, with every chance that you will be able to continue using natural gas without interruption.
“Kensington residents, rest assured the Gas Task Team, under the auspices of the KCA, will work tirelessly on securing the ongoing supply of natural gas services to our community,” they said.
Residents have been urged to stand together.
“As a community, all of us, whether we use natural gas or not, must stand together. Already, Egoli Gas has attempted to divide and weaken our resolve. We must not fall for any dirty tricks. We must be unrelenting.
“Egoli Gas will be pushing you to convert to LPG as soon as possible; do not fall for their fear-mongering tactics.
“Do not be intimidated and go into debt for tens of thousands of rands to convert to LPG gas when it may not be necessary to convert at all,” they said.
In responses to IOL last week, Egoli Gas said the threat of further legal action by the community was unfortunate, but they would protect their rights as may be necessary to the fullest extent.
“We trust that it will not be necessary to proceed with further legal action,” said Ewa Fabris, spokesperson for Egoli Gas.
IOL