DA wins legal battle over Tshwane metro dissolution
Pretoria high court has overturned Gauteng government’s decision of dissolving the Tshwane metro.
On Tuesday the Gauteng high court in Pretoria overturned Gauteng provincial government’s decision to dissolve the Tshwane council house.
The DA won the case against the Gauteng provincial government with legal costs also granted in favour of the DA by the court.
While delivering the judgement, Judge Dustan Mlambo said the decision taken by Gauteng’s executive council of the dissolution of councillors was unlawful.
“The decision of the Gauteng executive council to dissolve Tshwane metro, taken on 4 March and communicated on 10 March (dissolution decision), is reviewed, declared invalid and set aside,” he said.
Mlambo further stipulated that the ANC and EFF councillors should attend the meeting unless they have a lawful reason to do otherwise.
He said these orders were suspended until five days after level five of lockdown has been lifted.
During the period of suspension the administrator, appointed in Tshwane, would continue with his duties.
“The dissolution shall have no impact on the entitlement of councillors of the municipal council of Tshwane to continue to receive salaries and benefits, ” Mlambo.
Reacting to the judgement Gauteng Executive Council spokesperson Thabo Masebe, said the provincial government was studying the judgement with its legal team.
“While the provincial government respects the judgement handed down today, the executive council, together with its legal team will study the judgment and decide on appropriate steps to take. We reiterate our full confidence in the judiciary of the Republic of South Africa,” Masebe said.
Meanwhile, the DA interim leader, John Steenhuisen, welcomed the judgement and said it was a “victory for democracy”.
“This judgment confirms what the DA has said since the start of the disruptions to the Tshwane council: that this decision to place Tshwane under administration was nothing but a poorly disguised attempt to take back, undemocratically, what the ANC had lost at the ballot box. This is why today’s judgment is a big victory for democracy, and a serious setback for those who intent on undermining it,” Steenhuisen said.
He said he was proud of Tshwane councillors who continued to serve the residents during the lockdown.
Steenhuisen believed that next year’s local government elections will see the ANC lose even more municipalities to minority governments.
“If they were allowed to get away with this blatant power grab in Tshwane, nothing would have prevented ANC-led provincial governments from doing the same wherever voters sent them packing,” he added.
Steenhuisen also called for the suspension of Gauteng Cotga MEC Lebogang Maile, following courts’ comments that he should have better intervened in the crumbling of the metro.
This after the DA filed for an urgent court interdict, last month, to overturn the provincial government’s decision to dissolve the Tshwane council and placed under administration.
The decision taken by the provincial government was approved by Nation Cogta Minister Nkosaza Ndlamini-Zuma and National Council of Provinces members.
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