The ANC Free State notes and welcomes the findings and orders of the Bloemfontein High Court, delivered by Judge I van Rhyn, in response to an urgent court application that was lodged today. The ANC is pleased that the honourable court agreed with our arguments which interdicted the participation of former Councillors who were expelled as public representatives on the ticket of the ANC.
In our statement dated 30 March 2023, we committed to consult with our legal department, with the intention to solicit an advice regarding the council sitting of the 29 March 2023, as well as other pertinent matters regarding the conduct of our public representatives in the municipality. We also committed to ensure that all ANC public representatives behave in the manner that is in accordance to the code of conduct prescribed in the Constitution. It is against this background that despite the party exercising its right to institute any sanction to its members where there was a breach of the disciplinary code, the said Councillors deliberately ignored the sanction and proceeded to purport to represent the ANC in the council sitting that was scheduled for today, 14 April 2023.
The order of the BFN High Court
Noting that the Mangaung Metro Municiplaity had a scheduled council meeting today, the ANC swiftly approached the court in anticipation of the appetite by expelled Councillors to illegally participate in the said council sitting, that was scheduled for today, 14 April 2023 instant, launched an urgent court interdict to prevent any participation of the said Councillors who were expelled.
The High Court in Bloemfontein agreed with us, and made the following orders, today;
That the above former ANC members are interdicted and restrained from in any way further acting as Councillors of the Mangaung Metro Municipality, having been given a return date of 18 May 2023;
The above former ANC members are interdicted from attending the Mangaung Metro Council sitting scheduled for 14 May 2023;
They are interdicted from performing any function related to the holding of a position of Councillor of the Mangaung Metro Municipality; and
The must pay the costs of the above-mentioned application.
Replacement of PR Councillors and By-elections
The ANC remains committed to its decision to reconfigure the council of Mangaung Metro as a platform for the delivery of quality services for our people. As a law abiding organization, the ANC has finalized the process to identify and appoint 3 Councillors who will step in as Proportional Representation (PR) Councillors, pending the finalization of the processes of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). The ANC is also ready to contest by-elections in all the 4 wards where vacancies have occurred as a result of the decisions taken against these affected councillors.
Election of the Mayor of Mangaung Metro Municiplaity
The ANC has noted that the Speaker of Mangaung, Councillor Maryke Davies, has, with a degree of inordinate amount of desperation, and with full knowledge, presided over a meeting where people who were barred from participating in a meeting, to justify the legitimacy of ensuring that a quorum is achieved for the meeting to proceed. Further legal challenge will be pursued by the ANC to ensure that justice is preserved. It is unfortunate that the ANC would further institute criminal charges against the Speaker, together with these expelled Councillors who blatantly ignored a court order that was timeously served before the proceedings of that Council.
This is tantamount to contempt of court and the unfettered appetite by the DA concoction with other parties including the EFF, with no absolute majority to decide on the direction of the municipality. It must be noted that the ANC received the majority votes from the people of Mangaung hence its majority in that council. The will not allow the DA to usurp power through back door tactics and conniving with ill-disciplined members of the ANC who are not loyal to its values and its revolutionary agenda.
The ANC has further singed contracts of deployment with all its Councillors just after the 2021 Local Government Elections, and all these public representatives are expected to abide by the contents of the said contracts, and any deviation from same would result in the ANC exercising its right to enforce the said contract.
END
Issued by the ANC Free State Provincial Secretary, Comrade Polediso Motsoeneng
CENTRAL NEWS
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