Western Cape taxpayers will have to pay almost R50 000 for lawyers used by the province in the court case that trade union Cosatu brought against Premier Helen Zille over her all-male cabinet.
Zille revealed in a response in the provincial legislature on Tuesday that R49 356 was spent on legal representatives who were defending the provincial government in the case.
Zille said advocate Renata Williams, SC was briefed in this matter and a junior advocate, Karrisha Pillay, was briefed to assist senior counsel.
Zille said the directions hearing, in terms of Equality Court proceedings, was set down for 19 August 2009 without prior consultation with the parties' legal representatives.
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She said the state attorney was only informed of the date on August 18, and Advocate Ashton Schippers, SC was briefed to stand in for Williams who was not available on that day.
Zille said Schippers and Pillay had submitted invoices for R8 208 and R41 154 respectively. Cosatu took Zille to the Equality Court earlier this year, calling her to account for her all-male cabinet and charging her with discrimination against women specifically and the people of the Western Cape generally.
The organisation also claimed she was undermining the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act. It asked the court to order Zille to reconstitute her cabinet.
Cosatu later dropped its complaint: "In light of what is contained in the answering affidavits filed in the Equality Court proceedings, the premier's commitment to gender equality and the advancement of women is apparent, rendering it unnecessary to proceed with this litigation," said the two parties, jointly, at the time.
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This article was originally published on page 4 of Cape Argus on October 28, 2009
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