Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Pravin Gordhan welcomes the judgment of the Gauteng High Court dismissing, with costs, an application by the Democratic Alliance to interdict the coestablishment of more viable municipalities in line with decisions by the Municipal Demarcation Board.
Minister Gordhan said: "We welcome the judgment. The court has rejected the DA's application which was based on narrow, selfish party political interests. It vindicates the correctness of our decision, in line with the Back to Basics approach, to request the Demarcation Board to consider making changes to the outer boundaries of certain municipalities with a view to optimising their financial viability and functionality. We believe that this, together with other interventions, will help to create stronger municipalities that are better able to serve their communities and deliver services.
The dismissal, with costs of the DA's application paves the way for the relevant provincial governments, Municipal Demarcation Board, and the IEC to implement the decisions of the MDB and to prepare for local government elections. This will ensure that citizens in the affected areas are able to exercise their democratic right to elect their representatives in the 2016 local government elections.
Minister Gordhan added that: "We also welcome the court's strong rejection of the allegations of bias and impropriety made against the Minister and the Demarcation Board by leaders of the DA publicly and in their court papers - but not pursued during the hearing of the matter."
The allegations in the court papers echo allegations made by DA leaders over a period of time:
On 2 March 2015 former DA leader Helen Zille said that the Minister's request to the MDB was about gerrymandering, rather than service delivery and that "merging municipalities is actually a strategy to prevent any chance of a DA electoral majority (or an opposition coalition) removing the ANC from office in vulnerable municipalities in the 2016 elections."
On 19 August 2015, Kevin Mileham, DA spokesperson on local government, said that: "ANC gerrymandering a sign of desperation."
In his judgment Mr Justice Jody Kollapen said, "Whatever the applicant's intention may have been, at the end of the day one is left with the text that is both damning and disturbing - allegations made that are not pursued but are neither withdrawn. The Court must express its extreme displeasure at this kind of conduct. It constitutes an abuse of the litigation process and at the end of the day the question that must be asked is why such serious allegations are made and not pursued or relied upon."
In dismissing the DA's application the court found that: "...it can hardly be said that the applicant has made out an exceptionally strong case that would justify the relief sought." The Judge found that any shortcomings in the re-demarcation process, "are not material and in my view do not justify the granting of the far-reaching relief the Applicant seeks."
The matter arose from requests by Minister Gordhan to the MDB to consider changes to the outer boundaries of certain municipalities in 7 provinces with a view to optimising their financial viability and functionality. The requests were made between January and April 2015 as part of the Back to Basics approach to strengthening local government. They followed research and consultation with Members of the Executive Council (MECs) responsible for Local Government in the 9 provinces in December 2014.
The court heard the Democratic Alliance's (DA) application for an interdict on 26 and 27 October 2015. The DA sought an interdict preventing the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB), the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and Members of the Executive Council responsible for Local Government from giving effect to the determination and redetermination of the outer boundaries of 35 municipalities, by the MDB, across seven provinces.
The DA sought to prevent the respondents from fulfilling any of their statutory obligations towards the finalisation of preparations for the 2016 local government elections in the affected municipalities, pending the finalisation of its main application to review and set aside the determination and redetermination decisions by the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB), announced on 27 August 2015.
The Minister, MECs and the affected municipalities were cited as Respondents. The Minister and the MECs opposed the DA application. The South Africa Local Government Association (SALGA), the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) also filed notices to abide by the decision of the court, but have filed explanatory affidavits about the legislative injunctions in respect of preparations towards the 2016 Local Government elections.
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