Today the ANC will vote to expel two of their councillors who voted with the DA in the Kannaland municipality to oust members of their coalition.
This comes after the Western Cape High Court on Friday ruled in favour of an urgent application brought by the Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa (Icosa) against two ANC councillors, two DA councillors, the municipality and its manager.
The application sought to overturn the decision of the March 10 council meeting which saw Icosa speaker Werner Meshoa and councillor Hyrian Ruiters who also served as a representative for the council to the Garden Route District Municipality removed through motions of no confidence.
The DA’s Aletta Theron was then elected as speaker and her colleague Joslyn Johnson was sent as a representative to the district. Icosa alleged that the meeting was held illegally after Meshoa had adjourned it but all four councillors decided to proceed and that the speaker was not given enough notice period before motions were tabled.
However, the court’s ruling on Friday afternoon set aside all the decisions, restoring both the Meshoa and Ruiters.
The ANC’s Lerumo Kalako said the party would today rubber stamp recommendations to expel two of their councillors, Magdalena Barry who is mayor and Phillipus Antonie who is the deputy mayor, for voting with the DA.
“We welcome the court’s decision reverting the unlawful meeting. We want to state categorically that those councillors acted in their own interests without the say-so of the ANC as a region and province. We have long pulled out of the coalition with the DA and these two have their own relationship with the DA councillors,” he said.
“They have defied themselves out of the ANC, the region has sent us a recommendation and we are going to finalise the process of expelling them at a meeting of the Interim Provincial Committee (IPC) on Sunday.”
Icosa’s Jeffery Donson said they welcome the decision which solidified their position of the legality of the meeting.
“This means all the decisions taken from that meeting are null and void and the rightful speaker can resume his duties after he was removed illegally. But we look forward to having our case heard for part B of our application that will expose the corruption that has been taking place,” he said.
Theron said she was shocked by the court’s decision and will oppose the final relief sought by Icosa when the matter is due back in court in May.
DA Constituency Head Gillion Bosman said the party was studying the judgement for a way forward.
“The focus is providing the municipality with support in order to get it back to financial health, sustainability and create an environment where the council is able to make decisions that benefit the people of Kannaland,” he said.
The troubled municipality is facing multiple investigations from the Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) over allegations of fraud and corruption. This, as another court challenge is pending from the Department of Local Government which seeks to bar it from entering into a R700 million contract the department claims the cash-strapped municipality cannot afford.
The municipality’s recently reinstated speaker will also have to appear in court on March 31, for sentencing after he was found guilty of fraud and obstruction of justice over travel claims.
Weekend Argus