Note to Editors: Please find an English soundbite by Cllr Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku here
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Johannesburg has once again served the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) with court papers with regards to the ongoing VIP Protection provided without following due process, in violation of the Municipal Systems Act.
We are asking the courts to declare the City’s VIP Protection Policy and subsequent decision made in council to approve it irrational, unlawful and unconstitutional. More so than this, we urge the courts to consider a cost order against those individuals who made the unlawful decision to bring the motion to council.
This is a step in holding officials, and the executive who benefit from unlawfulness to account. We will do everything in our might to fight for responsible use of the residents of Johannesburg’s money.
That seems to be something the CoJ’s executive needs to be reminded about, it is not your money, but the residents of Johannesburg’s.
While residents have to grapple with electricity increases, surcharges on top of increases, water shedding, the Bree Street project is at a standstill, the city’s executive are being driven around in VIP Protection paid for by the very same Joburg residents they fail to service.
We will always be on the side of the rule of law, and in situations like these, we will hold those responsible for wasting money that could be spent on service delivery, to account in their personal capacity. The DA cannot sit still while the City is ransacked of its resources.