The former mayor of the City of Joburg Mpho Phalatse says she believes she has a big chance of coming back as mayor of the city through a favourable court ruling.
Phalatse had approached the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, with hopes of reversing the decision to remove her from council and the decisions that were taken at a programming committee that day before she was removed as mayor of the city of Joburg.
“As previously stated, as the DA we are of the position that the Programming Committee of Thursday, 29 September 2022, and the subsequent Extraordinary Meeting of Council of Friday, 30 September 2022, and the decisions taken thereof were unlawful, unconstitutional, and invalid,” Phalatse said.
Phalatse said following consultations with the DA’s legal team, she was confident that she would be reinstated as the City’s rightful mayor. She has remained defiant on this view leading many to criticise her unwillingness to let go of her former role as the mayor. Her fight with the current leadership of the City is expected to play out in the courts on October 18.
“I want to again reiterate that this is not about the positions we hold or once held, this is about the rule of law. Whether we go back into government is one issue, but our removal from government and the preceding events were illegal,” Phalatse said.
Phalatse said she would also like the decisions taken by the new mayor of the city to be treated as unlawful and set aside.
She expressed concerns that the ANC-led administration had already started making critical decisions within the municipal entities.
“We have been informed that the illegitimate ANC administration has issued a directive that all the City’s Entity Boards be replaced in order to appoint their own people to continue facilitating their looting and corruption,” she said.
Meanwhile, the current ruling bloc in the City of Joburg said it was not bothered by the court challenge.
Phalatse also wants Makhubele to pay personal costs for the court challenge should the DA win.
Council speaker Colleen Makhubele said she was not bothered by the court challenge saying even if the DA wins in court another council meeting would be called and Phalatse would be voted out as mayor once more.
“The City has appointed a team of attorneys that are looking at this. We are defending this and everything we did was by the book, for us it’s a futile exercise for them,” Makhubele said.