Tshwane councillor Randall Williams, who has been nominated by the DA for the mayoral position. Picture: Twitter / @DAGauteng
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Tshwane says its councillors will return to office despite the Gauteng provincial government filing an appeal after the Pretoria High Court ruled in favour of the party in a battle over the dissolution of the Tshwane Council.
The Gauteng provincial government launched their appeal with the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Mayoral candidate Randall Williams told The Citizen that the councillors have started planning the logistics around holding a council sitting at 10am on Friday, where a mayor is expected to be elected.
“We have heard about the lodged appeal as [MEC Lebogang] Maile claimed that they are going to do so.
“But while we will wait for the outcome from the court, we will continue as usual as far as we are concerned since the judgment by the high court is currently in operation,” said Williams.
On Wednesday, the court judgment that deemed the dissolution of Tshwane Council illegal will be implemented with immediate effect.
“That means, the administrators are no longer in office and that the councillors will resume their work in the city,” he said.
Williams said the latest court ruling would cease in the collapsing of the city’s council meetings.
“African National Congress (ANC) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) councillors are obligated to not only attend council meetings, but once they are in the meeting, they must remain until the meeting concludes according to the previous judgement.
“You won’t have the same problems you’ve had before of council meeting collapsing,” he added.
The mayoral candidate highlighted that if ANC and EFF councillors did not adhere to the court ruling, the councillors will be held in contempt of court which will lead to a jail term if found guilty.
He said the ruling also had given the council speaker the power to call a council meeting and that Friday’s meeting will be to elect the new mayor.
“The council speaker will be calling a meeting set for Friday at 10am, which will be virtual and would elect the new mayor while we will also be looking at the issue of the acting city manager,” said Williams.
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