Pretoria - The ANC could have appealed the High Court in Joburg’s ruling, which reinstated embattled mayor Mpho Phlalatse and hindered her return to office, but chose not to, said ANC Greater Johannesburg regional secretary Sasabona Manganye said.
Manganye said that instead of launching an appeal to have the high court judgment overturned, the party was looking forward to another motion in the council where Phalatse would be replaced.
“Yesterday, we received an invite for the programming committee to sit on Friday, which will discuss the motion of no confidence against the mayor. So, that means then, the office of the Speaker, instead of taking a long route that would take a long time to conclude, decided to just save the people of Johannesburg and say: ‘Let us restart the process,’” Manganye told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.
“By next week, we will reinstate the status quo and stabilise the city of Johannesburg. We could have easily appealed, and appealing would have meant the status quo was going to remain. Mpho Phalatse was not going to be a mayor, but people of Joburg were going to remain with uncertainty of court processes and all that.”
Manganye said the ANC supported the calling of the meeting to mull over another motion of no confidence against Phalatse.
“Mpho Phalatse will once again be the former mayor and I hope, this time, she will update her Twitter account and write it ‘former mayor’,” he said.
On Tuesday, the High Court in Joburg ruled that the council sitting where Phalatse was ousted last month was illegal, and set it aside.
In a written 30-page judgment seen by IOL, Judge Raylene Keightley ruled that the special council sitting on September 30, when Phalatse was removed, was “unlawful, unconstitutional and invalid”.
“The decision taken by the sixth respondent (City of Joburg) on 30 September, 2022 to adopt a motion of no confidence in the first applicant (Phalatse) as the executive mayor of the City of Johannesburg is declared unlawful, unconstitutional and invalid,” the judge ruled.
“The decision taken by the sixth respondent referred to in paragraph six is reviewed and set aside. The decision taken by the sixth respondent on 30 September 2022 to elect the fourth respondent (the ANC’s Dada Morero) as the executive mayor of the City of Johannesburg is declared unlawful, unconstitutional and invalid.”
Reacting to the judgement, Phalatse said the courts had rightfully corrected “an injustice” that had characterised her removal last month.
“There was an injustice, there was unlawfulness in the ousting of an executive mayor and the election of an executive mayor. Surely, that is enough of an infringement to act on, to approach the courts for recourse, which we have done and I am glad that we have been victorious,” Phalatse told Newzroom Afrika.
“There is no confusion as to who is the executive mayor of the City of Johannesburg. We have had confusion in the last few weeks, because I have always maintained that what happened was illegal and I did not recognise Dada Morero as the executive mayor. There was a lot of contention around that, but the courts have since proved that we were in fact correct.”
Phalatse said she would be reviewing some of the decisions made by the ANC’s Morero who occupied the populous city’s top post over the past few weeks.
“Every illegal decision will be overturned. It is difficult to say all the decisions (will be overturned), you have day-to-day operations in the city and we cannot have a blanket approach,” she said.
IOL