DA heads to court over Gauteng suspensions

The DA says it filed an urgent application in the High Court yesterday against the decision by Gauteng Member of the Executive Committee (MEC) for Co-operative Governance, Legogang Maile. 

He announced this week that Tshwane Speaker, Katlego Mathebe, will be suspended for six months without pay as both the Speaker and a Councilor. 

In Johannesburg, former Speaker, Vasco Da Gama, will be suspended as a councilor for three months – also without pay. 

Maile is accusing both the Speakers of abusing their power to ensure that council sittings collapsed and that separate motions of no confidence against the city’s mayors could not be tabled.

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However, the DA says the MEC wants to hijack politics in the capital. 

The party’s Gauteng Provincial Chairperson, Mike Moriarty, is also accusing Maile of holding Tshwane and Johannesburg at ransom. 

“The effect of the MEC’s decisions is extreme, as it will affect democratically elected councilors from representing the voters who elected them,” says Moriarty in a statement released this morning. 

He continues to say that it seems as if the MEC is playing ANC politics. 

“In the case of the Speaker of Tshwane, the ANC have already taken advantage of the situation to push forward their political agenda and have called for the continuation of a Special Council Sitting to carry through their Motions of No Confidence in the Mayor, the Speaker, the Acting Speaker and the Chair of Chairs,” concludes Moriarty. 

The MEC has denied that his decision is politically motivated.