This follows after a Constitutional Court ruling that rejected an appeal request by the Speaker and the Municipal Manager of the district municipality earlier this week.
NEWS: The ANC is set to get three more seats in the IFP-led King Cetshwayo district municipality. This follows a Concourt ruling that rejected an appeal request by the Speaker and the Municipal Manager of the district municipality. Their appeal followed legal battles after the
Their appeal followed legal battles after the ANC complained that it was short changed in terms of the number of councillors it should have sent from Mhlathuze local municipality (Richards Bay-Empangeni) to represent it in the King Cetshwayo District Municipality after the November 2021 local government elections.
During the sitting, the ANC staged a walkout and the remaining parties allocated the seats.
However, even after getting its outstanding three seats, the ANC will not be able to unseat the IFP in the district which will now have ten councillors - from seven.
The initial ruling that was being appealed was handed down by the Electoral Court in September 2023.
In it, the court ordered that Councillors Anneke Lange, Muziwokuthula Msimango and Makhosi Madida should vacate their positions in the district municipality and move back to Umhlathuze local municipality where they were seconded from.
The initial case was not brought by the ANC as the affected party, instead, the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) brought it after an audit of the Candidate Nomination System (CNS).
It was that time when the discrepancy between the list of the sitting councillors and what was on the commission system was detected.
The IEC alerted the political parties of the error and its intended move to correct the identified mistakes.
The parties said they would prefer the commission to approach the electoral court to clarify the position.
When it was argued in court, the Electoral Court favoured the IEC, but the Speaker of the IFP in the district and the municipal manager appealed the ruling and lost, effectively paving the way for the ANC to send its three councillors.
The Concourt dismissed the appeal without even hearing it, saying it has no prospects of success.
“The Constitutional Court has considered the application for leave to appeal directly to it and has concluded that no case has been made out for a direct appeal.
“‘Consequently, leave to appeal is refused. The Court has decided to award costs,” the Concourt ruled on Wednesday.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
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