Political analyst, Lesiba Teffo, says the Democratic Alliance‘s (DA) court victory against the Gauteng provincial government is not necessarily a victory for the people of Tshwane.
On Wednesday, the High Court in Pretoria ruled in favour of the DA regarding their court challenge against a provincial African National Congress (ANC) decision to dissolve the Tshwane council.
In his scathing judgment, Judge President Dunstan Mlambo laid the reason and blame for the dysfunctional Tshwane council firmly at the feet of the ANC and EFF councillors whose continued walkouts left the council unable to conduct its business. – @jsteenhuisen
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) April 29, 2020
The party went to court in March to challenge the decision, arguing that Premier David Makhura and his executive committee had dissolved the council for political reasons.
The court found that the decision by Makhura and his executive committee was unlawful. The provincial government has not yet commented.
Teffo says political squabbles in the capital city are to the disadvantage of the residents.
“I wouldn’t want to call it a victory because it’s an extremely unfortunate situation in which Tshwane metro and the people of Tshwane find themselves. Remember that the ruling party, the ANC, was in charge for twenty years. After four elections the people of Tshwane decided to bring another government to take care of their affairs. Now I’ve observed the desire and almost an obsession on the part of MEC Maile at least to launch a coup de grace. He tried and failed,” says Teffo.
Earlier, the DA’s Gauteng Provincial Chairperson Mike Moriaty said the party is now looking forward to appointing a new mayor.
“We are very happy and the council now needs to know when to meet and elect the new mayor.”
Moriaty says all resources will now be redirected to enhancing service delivery to resume with the administration.
