By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Gauteng High Court is set to hear the Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) case on overturning, what the party calls the “unlawful City of Johannesburg council meeting”, on October 18, 2022.
Former City of Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse was voted out during a motion of no confidence vote on 30 September, after her urgent interdict to stop the council meeting was struck of the court roll on the same day.
Phalatse insisted that the legal battle was not about wanting to keep power and maintained her stance that the council sitting was unlawful.
“I want to again reiterate that this is not about the positions we hold or once held, this is about the rule of law. Whether we go back into government is one issue, but our removal from government and the preceding events were illegal,” she said during a media briefing on Monday, 10 October.
The former Joburg mayor said she would challenge newly-elected speaker Collen Makhubele’s resolution to call for a council meeting as well as the decision to adopt a motion of no confidence against her.
She added that she would also seek a cost order and a personal cost order on Makhubele, who presided over the chaotic sitting which experienced numerous interruptions and points of order.
“This is a fight for Joburg, the rule of law, residents and service delivery. Service delivery will collapse under the illegally installed government, as the taps of corruption that we closed, will be re-opened until there is nothing left,” Phalatse continued.
Phalatse pointed out that they asked the High Court to set aside all decisions taken by the ANC’s Johannesburg regional chair, Dada Morero, since he was appointed mayor.
“We have just heard that this current illegal administration has called for all board decisions or actions to be put on hold and they gone and advertised for new board members for the entities in the City of Johannesburg. We believe that this is done to facilitate their corrupted agenda,” she said.
Morero’s 10-member mayoral committee (MMC) was sworn-in on Monday, Makhubele said Phalatse’s challenge at the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg of her removal through a vote of no confidence on September 30 was a futile exercise.
The ANC, meanwhile, has already confirmed that the regional party would oppose the DA’s application and that it was confident that it would successfully defend the matter in court.