Court rules City of Joburg’s VIP policy unconstitutional and invalid

The Johannesburg High Court has ruled that the City of Joburg’s VIP policy to allocate ten bodyguards to the mayor and six vehicles to the mayor unconstitutional and invalid.

However, the ruling will only be enforced after six weeks, giving the city time to justify the decision with a threat analysis.

Joburg High Court Judge Stuart Wilson handed down judgement on Thursday, the first ruling of 2025.

Court action

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in May last year challenged the controversial VIP policy that allows the mayor and other officials to have bodyguards and heightened security in violation of the allowable upper limits.

The upper limits are part of the remuneration package for public office bearers.

In its court papers, the DA asked the court to declare the VIP policy adopted by the City Council on 20 March 2024 unlawful, invalid, and unconstitutional.

At the time the resolution was adopted, the practice was to provide the Executive Mayor with ten personal protection officers, the speaker eight and the MMC’s and chairs of two of its other committees afforded between two and five personal protection officers.

ALSO READ: City of Joburg’s VIP policy heads to court

Judgement

Wilson ruled that the city failed to provide a threat assessment from SAPS to justify why it was necessary to enhance the security of office bearers.

“The papers in this case suggest that the City Council might have thought that it could obtain a threat assessment after passing and implementing the 20 March 2024 resolution. If the City Council did think that, then it fell into error.

“It is easy to see why this is so. Both the Act and the determinations are designed to prevent the creation of armies of security guards surrounding public office bearers, insulating them from the people they are appointed or elected to serve.

“The value of public accountability is enshrined in section 1 (d) of the Constitution. It is a basic requirement of accountability that public office bearers should be reasonably accessible.

“They are not entitled to exist in a security bubble, abstracted from the day-to-day concerns of the general public,”  Wilson ruled.

VIP Act

Wilson stated the VIP Act and the ministerial determinations recognise that a municipal councillor is entitled to an enhanced security allowance where Saps determines that there is a threat to their security that cannot be met by the default levels of provision set out in the ministerial determinations.

“It is on this basis that the applicant, the DA, asks me to declare the 20 March 2024 resolution unconstitutional and invalid, and to set aside the personal protection allowances that it formalised.”

Ruling welcomed

DA caucus leader in Johannesburg Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku welcomed the judgement.

“It’s the DA Councillors in the City of Joburg who raised the alarm on the VIP Protection policy in council, the ANC-ActionSA-EFF-PA coalition ignored the issue the DA raised that it violates the constitutional upper limits.

“Once again we took it to court and won,” Echeozonjoku said on X.

*BREAKING NEWS!!!
– It's @Our_DA Councillors in @CityofJoburgZA who raised the alarm on the VIP Protection policy in council, the ANC-ACTIONSA-EFF-PA Coalition ignored the issue the DA raised that it violates the constitutional upper limits.
Once again we took it to court &… https://t.co/8VwofFjGRt

— Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku (@BelindaE6) January 2, 2025

The DA asked that Joburg MMC for Finance Magaret Arnolds pay the costs of the application in her personal capacity, however, Wilson said “no serious case was made out for this relief”

ALSO READ: DA accuses Joburg mayor of prioritising bodyguards over service delivery