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The Gauteng Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs MEC Lebogang Maile has just lost, at cost, a legal case in which it dissolved the DA-ruled municipality of Tshwane.
The immediate impact of his decision to dissolve the council left hundreds of councilors without income as a result of what the High Court of Pretoria has since ruled was ill-conceived.
Maile and the Gauteng executive now plan to seek direct access to the Constitutional Court to try to reverse the court’s ruling. The process increasingly resembles an ego journey, in which Maile seeks to demonstrate that she was correct in intervening the way she did.
Tshwane has demonstrated the complexities of coalition governments in modern times, where shifting allegiances and unstable relationships keep municipalities in a sense of perpetual crisis. The former ANC-led municipality was taken over by the DA with the support of the EFF after the 2016 elections.
READ: DA ready to lead Tshwane again
After the EFF’s relationship with the DA collapsed, the municipality struggled to survive, leading to a prolonged stalemate. And so, Maile entered, who was supposed to intervene only with the intention of restoring stability.
the higher court ruling has painted a picture of an MEC obsessed with getting even
Rapule Tabane
But the higher court ruling has painted the image of a MEC obsessed with taking revenge on former Tshwane speaker Katlego Mathebe, who stood firm in the face of his illegal interference.
The court said that even when Maile knew what the problems were in the township, he only attacked the DA-aligned speaker.
The court said: “The affidavit of response signed by [Gauteng Premier David Makhura] it states in detail that the Gauteng government was aware of the collapse of city council meetings, as well as the role of ANC and EFF councilors in causing these collapses.
READ: DA is racist, Maile says while announcing appeal of Tshwane trial
“No basis is provided in the response affidavit of why only the speaker was targeted for corrective action while more and more issues were at stake.”
The court said that, in its opinion, the most direct cause of the council’s inability to conduct its business was the continued interruption of council meetings by ANC and EFF advisers who organize the strikes.
He argued that such conduct was not prioritized or addressed by the MEC, despite its centrality in the enigma, and that Maile did not use the code of conduct that governs the behavior of councilors, including addressing their strikes and compliance of your legal duty to attend meetings and remain in attendance.
He said the strikes had been paralyzing the council and preventing it from meeting its obligations, but Maile had looked the other way.
I see little chance of Maile winning this and I wonder why taxpayers have to fund this personal crusade.
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