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Mthatha High Court rules on removal of illegitimate councillor

Dear Editor

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Eastern Cape welcomes the ruling made by the Mthatha High Court, reaffirming our long-held position that the OR Tambo District Municipality erred in swearing in one of our members as a councillor.

After the November 2021 Local Government Elections, the DA won a seat in the OR Tambo District Municipality and advised the IEC that according to our lists, Sithembiso Mabasa was in position number one and to be our representative. Subsequently, the IEC sent a government gazette to the municipality asserting the DA’s wishes. Despite official correspondence from the IEC, the district municipality elected to swear in Zwelinzima Ntsodo as DA councillor.

Since day one, we have tried to correct this situation in an amicable manner, but all our correspondence was neither replied to nor even acknowledged.

We were left with no other option but to approach the High Court in Mthatha, and on 19 July 2022 the court ruled with costs that the municipality must remedy the situation by removing Ntsodo and swearing in Mabasa.

Instead of adhering to the court order, the municipality chose not to respect the judgment but decided to spend more of the taxpayers’ money by launching a challenge to the ruling.

On Tuesday, 23 January 2024, the Mthatha High Court once again ruled in the DA’s favour and ordered the municipality to remedy the situation within 10 days. The municipal manager was ordered to pay the costs.

We call on the municipality to own up and respect the ruling of the High Court and to stop wasting taxpayers’ money in defending the indefensible.

Regards

Mlindi Nhanha MP
OR Tambo Constituency Leader

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