DA welcomes court ruling that puts Tshwane back under its control

The DA in Gauteng has welcomed a court decision to put on ice the sacking of Tshwane mayor Stevens Mokgalapa and council speaker Katlego Mathebe.

This comes after the party approached the North Gauteng High Court on an urgent basis on Friday after a chaotic council meeting a day earlier which saw the ANC team up with the EFF to have the pair sacked.

In a statement on Friday, Gauteng DA leader John Moodey labelled the relationship between the ANC and EFF a “coalition of corruption”.

“We note that the coup d’etat was overturned by the court and their banana republic behaviour was crushed. The outcome of this ruling means that the DA mayor and speaker will retain their positions until the matter is heard in the same high court on December 17 2019.

“The DA will not allow this coalition of corruption to reverse the three years of good work done by the DA-led administration in the City of Tshwane. It is certain that in the case of the Tshwane council, ignorance allied with power is the most ferocious enemy justice can have. Today is a step in the right direction as justice prevailed. A justice that the DA will continue to fight for,” said Moodey.

The court on Friday postponed the application by the DA to nullify decisions taken by the Tshwane council on Thursday to December 17. This was to allow the affected parties to file their court papers.

But the court also ordered that the outcomes of that council meeting be suspended.

“Pending the finalisation of these applications, all resolutions passed by the Tshwane council on December 5 2019 at its special council meeting and its continuation meeting are suspended and of no effect,” reads the order.

This means the election of EFF councillor Obakeng Ramabudo as acting speaker and the motions on both the mayor and speaker are suspended until the matter can be heard in court.