Africa-Press – South-Africa. The DA and Cederberg Eerste party suffered a setback on Friday after the Western Cape High Court struck its urgent application against the Cederberg municipality off the roll.
The DA and the Cederberg Eerste Party launched an urgent application for an order from the Western Cape High Court for motions of no confidence to be heard against the Speaker, Maxwell Heins, and Executive Mayor, William Farmer.
Last month, the Speaker determined that the motions were legally defective and non-compliant with the Council Rules of Order.
The court however, said the application was brought on very short notice on the urgent roll, for relief which was clearly not urgent.
The municipality said in a statement: “The municipality’s legal representatives warned their counterparts acting for the DA and the Cederberg Eerste party leader, Ruben Richards, about this and that taxpayer’s money should not be wasted on legal fees for matters which fall within the political arena and ought to be resolved there.
“The timeous offer to withdraw their application was unfortunately rejected by the applicants, forcing the municipality to go to court.”
Last month, a bid by opposition party members to oust the ANC-Patriotic Alliance leadership in the embattled Cederberg Municipality failed dismally.
The opposition DA, FF Plus and Cederberg Eerste party sought to bring a motion of no confidence in the ANC/PA leadership in the municipality, after scoring a major victory during a by-election held in October.
But instead of a vote of no confidence, four councillors from the FF Plus and Cederberg Eerste party were forced to leave the meeting amid allegations of misconduct.
The DA’s constituency head in Cederberg, Andricus van der Westhuizen, told News24 he was disappointed by the court’s decision not to treat the application on an urgent basis.
He said:
Van der Westhuizen said the municipality’s financial situation remains the biggest concern so far as it has been struggling to settle debt owed to Eskom.
In September, News24 reported that the municipality owes the power utility R47 million.
“Everyone wants a good administration, and I’m afraid Cederberg municipality has been suffering,” he said.
After the local government elections last year, Cederberg was among the hung councils, and an agreement was signed between the DA, FF Plus, and Cederberg Eerste.
The DA terminated the membership of Farmer, currently the municipality’s mayor, after he voted with the ANC in a no-confidence vote in Richards, the mayor at the time.
The PA tabled the motion, which the ANC supported during a full council meeting in July.
Farmer is now with the PA.
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