Typo stalls attempt to arrest Joburg City Manager Brink

A typographical error on the warrant of arrest issued over the metro’s failure to comply with a court order interdicting it from cutting off utilities at business premises was at the centre of the confusion.

Lawyers representing the aggrieved client, Gittins Attorneys, said the warrant was not executed due to the misspelling of the city manager’s surname, which was written as “Blink” instead of “Brink”.

Candidate attorney Stefan Erasmus said the warrant was issued because the city’s lawyers and Brink failed to appear in court after a ruling against them over a water billing dispute.

"We’ve procedurally followed the correct route. Once the city arrived at our client’s premises, we advised them that we were bringing an urgent application, which we’ve done. On such note, there was a second relief that was granted to say that in 30 days Mr Floyd [Brink] or the city must attend court to advise why the contempt must not be made a final order.

"The time lapsed, we attended court, there were no representatives of the City of Johannesburg nor Floyd Brink’s representatives, and a contempt order was granted, and our offices proceeded to have the warrant of arrest issued."

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Erasmus said the spelling error was not reason enough to delay the process.

"We’ve reached out to the sheriff's office and advised them that we got the new warrant, and they merely just pushed back to us and said they are not assisting with the matter, and they believe our papers must be amended."

After confirming that the necessary amendments had been made to the warrant, a source close to the story said the sheriff would not return to serve the document, adding they could not rule out political interference.

At the same time, the City of Joburg has turned to the courts to stay the execution of the warrant of arrest against Brink.

In a statement, Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda said the city manager was the target of “incessant harassment by political actors” abusing the court process.

"This attack on his person and character has now been orchestrated to embarrass and target him and his family and to create a public perception that the city manager is a suspect in a criminal matter.

"Suspicious leaks to the media and subsequent articles have also been used to further this narrative, and the city takes a cautious and dim view of this abuse and ill-intent,” said Gwamanda.

Gittins Attorneys said they would challenge the city’s urgent application.