Fate of Tshwane leadership in hands of Supreme Court

The decision to have the City of Tshwane council reinstated and end the capital’s administration now lies in the hands of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

On Monday, the Gauteng provincial government and the DA legal representatives presented their first arguments on the DA’s applications to have the councillors back in court, while the “unlawful” dissolution of Tshwane ruling awaits to be appealed at the Constitutional Court next month.

This comes after the Gauteng DA leadership, supported by its national leadership, applied to the SCA in June to have the Gauteng High Court’s April ruling, stating that Tshwane councillors get back to the council, be implemented.

DA mayoral candidate Randall Williams said they hoped to have a judgment on the matter before the end of the month.

“The ANC provincial government appealed the DA’s Section 18(3) victory. Today they will present their arguments in court in the hope they can justify their unlawful coup in Tshwane.

“The DA will provide updates on the court hearing. We hope to have a judgment on this matter before the end of this month so that the councillors can be reinstated and basic service delivery in the capital city can be restored.”

Provincial government spokesperson Thabo Masebe said they were looking to the courts to decide on the leadership while their application on the matter of the “unlawful” dissolution awaits to be heard at the Constitutional Court in September.

“The courts will decide on what will happen next; we will not give further comments, as the matter is before the courts, we will wait on the outcomes.”

This comes after the Gauteng High Court in April overturned the Gauteng provincial government’s decision to dissolve the Tshwane council house.

This saw the DA winning the case against provincial government with legal costs also granted in favour of the DA by the court.

While delivering the judgment, head Judge Dunstan Mlambo said the decision taken by Gauteng 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 10 March (dissolution decision) is reviewed and declared invalid and set aside,” he said.

The ruling also stipulated that ANC and EFF councillors would have to attend meeting unless they had substantial lawful reasons to do otherwise.

While delivering the judgment, Mlambo said: “The dissolution shall have no impact on the entitlement of councillors of the municipal council of Tshwane to continue to receive salaries and benefits.”

This article first appeared on Rekord and was republished with permission.

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