Cape Town - Oudtshoorn’s ousted deputy mayor, Vlancio Donson, is expected to return to his post, after the DA conceded that its councillors in the troubled Oudtshoorn municipality erred in bringing a motion of no confidence in him.
Donson, a member of the Independent Civics Organisation (Icosa), along with the municipality’s former ANC mayor, Gordon April were ousted from their posts after the DA-Cope alliance took over control of the municipality during a special council meeting last month.
Wessie van der Westhuizen (DA) was elected as new mayor while John Stoffels from the National People’s Party (NPP) was elected unopposed as deputy mayor.
Since then, Western Cape premier Helen Zille and her cabinet gave the go-ahead for the embattled municipality to be placed under administration.
However, Icosa turned to the Western Cape High Court to halt the process, in a bid to declare the DA’s take-over and the ousting of April and Donson unlawful.
Icosa claimed the takeover was in breach of a high court order in June last year and violated an earlier agreement the DA initiated last year.
Icosa said the DA conceded that its Oudtshoorn councillors erred in bringing a motion of no confidence in Donson, on July 17.
Icosa’s provincial chairman Dawid Kamfer said the DA admitted that recently elected councillor Pat Wagenaar was bound by the provisions of a high court order prohibiting motions of no confidence by DA councillors.
“Icosa councillor Donson is therefore absolved having suffered the humiliation of being ordered out of the council chamber on July 28 for arguing that the DA was illegally in office by the July 17 irregular motions of no confidence in the executive,” Kamfer said.
Kamfer said the party was “flabbergasted” by the DA’s argument that Wagenaar was prohibited from making a motion of no confidence against the deputy mayor, but justified in supporting a similar motion against the executive mayor during the same council meeting.
Kamfer said Icosa would continue to defend the rule of law at all costs, in particular when “parties professing inviolable loyalty to democracy egregiously renounce principle for political expediency”.
The legal firm representing the DA in the case - Minde, Schapiro and Smith - said in a letter its “clients shall not oppose the relief sought by councillor Donson” in terms of the motion of no confidence against him, his removal from office and setting aside the election of Stoffels as deputy mayor in his place.
The DA argued that because Wagenaar was not one of the councillors involved in last year’s court proceedings, he was not bound by the order for interim relief granted by the high court in 2014.
However, the party’s lawyers wrote that they “have however advised our clients that it is at least arguable the DA, as a party, may be bound by the provisions of the order and that councillor Wagenaar, as a member of the DA, is accordingly also so bound.”
The interim order blocking the DA from bringing motions of no confidence is binding until the finalisation of Supreme Court proceedings in the matter.
The DA’s legal team suggests that a fresh motion of no confidence in Donson can instead be brought by a councillor not affected by the order.
The letter states that the DA councillors and the party did not display any wilful disregard for the order granted by the previous court ruling, and that the party maintains that the same does not apply to the motion of no confidence in the former mayor, Gordon April, since the motion was brought by Stoffels in his capacity as an NPP representative.
The High Court matter will be heard on August 13, following the DA’s concession.
Meanwhile Local Government MEC Anton Bredell confirmed that the new administrator for Oudtshoorn is Kam Chetty, a former municipal manager at the Cape Winelands municipality.
Koos Cilliers, advisor to Zille, had been seconded to the municipality as a legal expert.
Cape Argus