By Nicole McCain.
The City of Johannesburg has said it will not appeal a High Court judgment that found its VIP Risk Management Policy was unconstitutional.
Earlier this week, the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg declared the City’s controversial VIP protection policy as unconstitutional and invalid.
In a statement, Mayor Dada Morero’s spokesperson Chris Vondo said the City’s decision not to appeal had been “made with the intention of providing transparency and clarity regarding the protocol used to approve the policy”.
News24 previously reported that in its current form, the policy allowed for up to eight bodyguards for the mayor, multiple bodyguards for the speaker, and personal protectors for members of the mayoral committee and committee chairs.
This is despite the cooperative governance and traditional affairs minister having set the limit at two – and then only for the mayor, deputy mayor, speaker and whips.
The policy was adopted in March 2024, prompting the DA to approach the court.
Vondo said that there had been no formal policy in the metro to govern the implementation of VIP security measures and that, historically, security measures had been approved based on specific reported threats and threat risk assessments conducted by either the State Security Agency or the police.
He said protection for the City’s executive leadership, in its current form, had been in place since the change of government in 2016.
“However, the expansion of these services occurred irregularly and without a guiding policy, an inconsistency that the newly approved policy seeks to rectify. The policy, which has been endorsed by the Council, aims to regularise and standardise the provision of protection services in alignment with applicable legislation and regulations,” he said.
Vondo added that the policy specified that protection services would be provided on an ad hoc basis, contingent on a threat risk assessment.
He said there had been “misinformation” around the number of bodyguards for the mayor and speaker, which he said “seeks to present the current leadership as insensitive and flamboyant”.
“This policy is crucial in ensuring that we have a structured approach to providing necessary protection to our councillors when dictated by risk assessments. It establishes a framework that the City can rely upon to respond appropriately to potential threats,” Vondo said.
“The City wants to reassure the public that the current inspectors responsible for these services are part of the Johannesburg Metro Police Department and that there have been no new recruits in this area.”
He added that the City would study the full judgment and develop an implementation plan based on it.