Johannesburg - Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse is returning to court once more to stop the opposition bloc from removing her as the mayor of the City of Joburg.
The Star has seen court papers that have been served to the office of the speaker of council Colleen Makhubele and other respondents.
In the court papers, Phalatse is challenging decisions taken at a programming committee meeting last week. One of those decisions was to have a motion of no confidence against her tabled in council on November 3.
The Star understands that the court challenge was being launched on an urgent basis and was praying for “reviewing and setting aside the Programming Committee meeting held on 28 October 2022 and that decisions taken at that meeting as being unlawful”.
Phalatse also wants the reviewing and setting aside of a notice published by the office of the speaker of council calling for an extraordinary council meeting on November 3.
Phalatse argues that the placing of a motion of no confidence in the executive mayor was irregular and unlawful and in direct conflict with standing rules of order of council, especially rule 92 (1).
The DA lawyers had given the speaker’s office until Tuesday to file answering affidavits. The DA’s legal team had threatened to interdict Wednesday’s extraordinary council sitting should the motion of no confidence against the mayor fail to be removed from the agenda.
The office of the speaker of council remained mum on the issues with at least two press briefings being cancelled. It was not clear what the position of the speaker of council was on the matter, but it was expected that the speaker’s office would challenge Phalatse in court. DA regional spokesperson Charity McCord was contacted for comment but had not returned to The Star with a comment.
The court challenge comes as no surprise as Phalatse under the banner of the DA does not have enough numbers in council to fight the motion of no confidence.
Political analyst Tessa Dooms said it was important for the members of the Joburg municipal council to ensure that the motion of no confidence against Phalatse was brought within the framework of the law.
Dooms also warned that Phalatse stood a chance of being seen as obstructing democracy if she was seen as going to court on matters of technicality.
“It is important that the things we do in legal spaces like legislatures and councils are legal, but as we have learnt in society, your ability to lead or win a legal battle is only half of the battle, and so if you are not able to do the other political work outside the courts then you are using the courts as a pose to making sure the processes are correct,” Dooms said.
Dooms said coalitions were a reality in South African politics and it was a critical skill to be able to coalesce with others.
The Star