DA confident about court application to restore Tshwane metro council

The DA believed the North Gauteng High Court will again rule in its favour and order councillors to get back to work in the Tshwane metro council, after it presented its case at on Thursday.

DA Tshwane mayoral candidate Randall Williams said the DA legal team argued to have the recent judgment declaring the dissolution of the Tshwane Council unlawful, implemented; notwithstanding an appeal against the judgement by the ANC and the EFF.

This after the provincial and national government filed for an appeal of the court judgement that the dissolution of Tshwane council was unlawful earlier this month.

Williams said the council needed to be restored for “decisive leadership” during difficult times to help combat the spread of the Covid-19 crisis.

“Each day the administrators remain in office undermines the democratic choice that was made by the residents of Tshwane in August 2016 in favour of a DA leadership for the city council.

“The residents of Tshwane must be led by the people they elected rather than those undemocratically imposed upon them.”

Williams claimed the Tshwane administrators made no effort to facilitate “enough” public participation in municipal processes that include the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and budget.

“The budget for the 2020/2021 financial year, which should have been released at the beginning of April this year, was only released mid-May for public comment after the DA filed legal papers highlighting the administrators’ failure in their legislative duties.”

He said the metro faced high record levels of under-collection, which could pose financial instability risks.

In the absence of councillors there was a lack of accountability and transparency over the decisions taking place in the metro, Williams said.

Williams accused the government of power-grabbing the metro from the DA by placing the administrators in the metro.

“They are hoping to delay the implementation of the judgement for as long as possible while they cling to power.”

Cogta spokesperson Castro Ngobese said it was too early for the provincial government to comment on the case and would only comment after judgement.

The metro was placed under administration in March for a period of three months.

With the ongoing legal battles over the governance of Tshwane, the administrators’ period could be prolonged and councillors might “stay out in the cold” longer – unless the courts decide otherwise.

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