High Court ruling is a victory for Johannesburg residents: Multi-party coalition

The multi-party coalition in Gauteng says the Johannesburg High Court ruling is a victory for the residents of Johannesburg.

The High Court granted the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and the multi-party government an interdict barring Tuesday’s Extraordinary Council meeting from taking place and declared it invalid, null and void.

The Court also declared Congress of the People (COPE) Councillor, Colleen Makhubele, not  the Acting Speaker of Council and interdicted her from exercising any statutory function of the Acting Speaker of the City of Johannesburg Council.

The multi-party coalition which comprises the Democratic Alliance (DA) , ActionSA, Patriotic Alliance (PA) , African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), COPE, and Freedom Front plus (FF+) says the ruling vindicates them.

FF+’s Corne Mulder who speaks for the coalition says, “In this instance, it makes it now possible for the multi-party coalition to proceed with service delivery because that is what is all about. We are happy that we could once again defend the will of the electorate in the COJ against another attempt by the ANC (African National Congress) voting block to try and get control of the COJ this time by way of an illegal coup.”

self-serving political games 

Earlier, the City of Johannesburg welcomed the judgment.  It has called on political opponents to cease and desist destructive and self-serving political games.

[STATEMENT] High Court to give direction regarding vacancy in the Speaker’s Office pic.twitter.com/0BjQ1qFBIZ

— Executive Mayor Mpho Phalatse (@mphophalatse1) September 12, 2022

ActionSA says the  ruling is a humiliating defeat to the ANC and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) voting bloc which called the meeting with the sole purpose of trying to take back the City of Johannesburg through an unlawful coup.

In a statement it says, “It is clear that this grouping will stop at nothing in a coordinated attempt to prevent the positive alternatives from ANC misrule and state capture. The ruling is also a complete vindication of the governing multi-party coalition government and, most importantly, a victory for the residents of Johannesburg.”

We along with our coalition partners welcome the ruling by the South Gauteng High Court declaring:

1. The meeting called by Chair of Chairs is invalid &interdicted;
2. Makhubele is not the Acting Speaker; &
3. Makhubele ordered to pay costs.https://t.co/HdLGzaDDho

— ActionSA (@Action4SA) September 12, 2022

VIDEO: Political analyst,  Dr Kagiso Pooe says coalition problems in the City of Johannesburg shouldn’t come as a surprise [ 1 September 2022]