Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal – Thirty-eight foreign national entrepreneurs operating in Estcourt have approached the Pietermaritzburg High Court with an urgent application demanding the return of their business premises and the right to resume commercial activities following alleged unlawful lockouts by local authorities.
The applicants, all registered sole proprietors in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands town, contend that officials from the Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality, together with the mayor, seized control of their business keys in April and have since prevented them from accessing their shops.
Ain Singh, the instructing attorney acting on behalf of the group, outlined the core relief sought in the court papers. “The application before court is for them for their keys to be returned to them and for them to trade,” Singh explained.
Singh was careful to distinguish the legal challenge from broader regulatory enforcement. “This application is not about stopping or preventing lawful policing or lawful immigration checks or anything that needs to follow lawful procedures. It’s simply for them to continue trading and for the municipality and the mayor to conduct whatever processes and procedures they need to lawfully and not take the law into their own hands at self-help.”
When questioned about the documentation status of the business owners, Singh confirmed that the applicants represented in the matter are operating legally. “In respect of the applicants that we represent, their lawful papers have been put up there and they’ve all got registered businesses with CIPC. So the people that we represent and are before court with the operations they are according to our instructions legal.”
Beyond the return of their keys, the group is asking the court to interdict the municipality and its mayor from further entering or interfering with their business properties unless such actions are conducted in accordance with established legal procedures.
The urgent matter has been filed at the Pietermaritzburg High Court and awaits allocation for hearing.