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The Pretoria High Court on Wednesday overturned, with costs, the Gauteng provincial government’s decision to dissolve the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and place the city under administration.
In the judgment, signed by Judge President Dunstan Mlambo and shared with the DA, found that: “The decision of the Gauteng executive council to dissolve the city of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality taken on March 4 and communicated to the applicants on March 10 [the dissolution decision] is reviewed, declared invalid and set aside.
“Interference from one sphere of government into another sphere, as we have here, is seen as most intrusive and can only be resorted to in exceptional circumstances,” the court ruled.
The DA went to court last month to challenge the decision, arguing that Gauteng Premier David Makhura and his executive committee had dissolved the council for political reasons.
The National Council of Provinces and the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs endorsed the decision on March 19.
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma at the time said the department’s decision was informed by the metro’s failure to deliver basic services such as water to Hammanskraal and other places in the city.
Spokesperson Mlungisi Mtshali added then that the department found the reasons tabled by the Gauteng provincial government good enough to place the metro under administration.
On March 23, Gauteng MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs Lebogang appointed Mpho Nawa as the administrator of Tshwane.
Read:‘City in shambles’ – Makhura says dissolving Tshwane council not meant to punish DAHis team includes Gilberto Martins, Lefadi Lucas Makibinyane, Riada Kruger, Lebogang Mahaye, Lesedi Mere, Thulisile Njapa-Mashanda, Mmaseabata Abigail Mutlaneng and Shiva Makotoko.
Wednesday’s judgment state that the administrators will be “entitled to exercise the power conferred upon them until May 5, when the DA lead council is expected to take over the reigns of the metro”.
DA interim leader John Steenhuisen took to social media on Wednesday to ridicule the provincial government.
“What an embarrassment for Maile and his henchmen in Tshwane that the undemocratic back-door power grab has failed so spectacularly,” Steenhuisen tweeted.
He added that “in a perfect world” Maile would fall on his own sword and resign. “However, we know there is no honour among thieves,” he said.
???| Judge Mlambo laid the reason for the dysfunctional Tshwane council firmly at the feet of the ANC & EFF councillors whose continued walkouts left council unable to conduct its business & on MEC Maile's inability to act.
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) April 29, 2020
We now call for his immediate suspension. -@jsteenhuisen pic.twitter.com/pavN1pXQoS
DA national spokesperson Solly Malatsi said Wednesday’s judgment was a big victory for the party and the “political coup” had been legally overturned.
The decision means the DA retains the Tshwane metro after losing Johannesburg earlier this year following internal party meltdowns which saw former mayor Herman Mashaba quit.
The court also found that ANC and EFF councillors kept breaking the quorum, effectively making the metro ungovernable in order to force the council’s dissolution.
As a result, it was ordered that they should attend council meetings when the national lockdown ends.
DA member of Parliament Cilliers Brink, in a tweet, called the ruling “a very rare direct [and welcome] enforcement of the statutory code of conduct for councillors”.
The judgment is yet another blow for Maile and the ANC Gauteng.
Earlier this year the MEC was forced to make a U-turn on his decision to suspend Tshwane speaker Katleho Mathebe and former Johannesburg speaker Vasco Da Gama.
Maile had accusing the pair of being “constitutional delinquents and abusing their office”. But after consultations with his legal team, he made the about turn.
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