The African National Congress (ANC) in Tshwane says the Democratic Alliance (DA) may have won this round in the legal battle over the City, but it will not win the war.
This as the High Court in Pretoria has suspended the removal of the DA’s Tshwane mayor Stevens Mokgalapa and Speaker Katlego Mathebe pending a full review.
This will see them return to their respectful positions pending the review process.
The DA brought the application following a heated motion of no-confidence by the ANC and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). The DA argued that the process was flawed and wanted the court to reverse the decision.
Chairperson of the ANC in Gauteng Kgosi Maepa says when Council resumes in 2020, they will restart the whole process of removing DA members from power.
“The inevitable is coming. The DA must leave the city, they have caused untold damage and corruption in the city; that has been proved. The parties that are here don’t want the DA. The DA doesn’t have a majority in the council, people don’t want them on the ground so we don’t understand why they hang on to power. On the 3rd of January, we will restart the whole process and remove each and every person of the DA that they have out there.”
The battle continues
The battle for the capital city continues… Maepa says they plan to bring another motion before the speaker next week.
“On the 3rd of January, we will impress on the speaker, that we want to continue. But now we are going to put motions on all the people that the DA has brought here into court and try to say that those people are actually supposed to preside. We will put a motion now on Zweli, on the chair of chairs. We’ll put a motion on everybody else from the DA whose are trying to buy time. We know that the DA wants to use all other formats, and trying to confuse everyone and say they are going to negotiate. There’s nothing to negotiate with the DA. The inevitable is coming, the DA must leave the city. People don’t want them anymore.”
The EFF’s MoAfrika Mabogwane says they were shocked by the court’s decision.
“The DA applied to challenge decisions that were taken by the majority of councillors in council. Now to our surprise today, we’re dealing with a new matter which is a matter of the review. And we were supposed to come here and listen to a judgement which tells us whether the decision of council remains or they don’t remain. And this is clearly a political judgement which seeks to keep us on a permanent stay here in court so that the people of Tshwane don’t get to enjoy service delivery.”
The court has given the DA 7 days to institute its review application. The party’s provincial chairperson, Mike Moriarty, says he’s confident that the court will find in their favour.
“Papers are ready, within the next couple of days they will be before the court and there will be a date assigned for a new hearing. In terms of that hearing, we are expecting that the matter that brought us to this place would be unpacked. Example: the physical removal of the presiding officer, and that’s all that we are standing on here. The principle that rules should be respected, rules should be respected and the office of the speaker should be respected.”
While the decision to remove the mayor and the speaker has been suspended, Able Tau will continue as acting mayor as there’s still uncertainty over Mokgalapa’s future who was placed on special leave following a sex scandal with a former MMC, Sheila Senkubuge.
