DA in EC watching Tshwane for tips on how to regain power in Nelson Mandela Bay
“The ANC has exposed its strategy to render the Council ungovernable in order to take control. In so doing, they show themselves as being unable to accept the democratic will of the voters,” said Moriarty over concerns raised in the court papers regarding council meeting quorums.
The EFF in its papers also argued the high court misinterpreted in its findings.
In defending their right to walk out of council, the party’s national spokesperson Vuyani Pambo said the latest court findings meant in the future councillors would be in contempt of the courts for being absent from council proceedings.
“The Code of Conduct of Councillors has its own sanctions for members of a council who do not attend meetings… for the court to suggest that members must be present at council meetings unless there is a lawful reason for being absent is judicial overreach,” Pambo said.
The EFF also took issue with the court’s judgment on “exceptional circumstances”.
“The duty to objectively interpret whether exceptional circumstances exist in a council that hinder it from executing its executive duties rests on the provincial executive,” said the EFF spokesperson.