Note to Editors: Please find an English soundbite by Cllr Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku here
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Johannesburg is starting 2025 on a high, having come out victorious in our court action against the City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ) VIP protection policy.
On the 20th of March 2024 the CoJ passed the unlawful, unconstitutional and invalid VIP Protection policy in council.
We immediately raised our concerns inside council and cautioned the City that this policy violates the constitutional upper limits and urged it to withdraw the policy. Despite this the ANC-EFF-PA-ACTIONSA coalition ridiculed us and used its numerical advantage to pass this through council.
Beyond agreeing with the DA’s case, we have been granted a cost order in this regard.
Unfortunately, the City has had to learn yet another costly lesson in the rule of law. Residents of Johannesburg will have to pay for the lack of good governance and due dilegence by the city.
The judgement is suspended until 14 February 2025, providing the city with time to provide threat and risk analyses justifying this ridiculous expense. We aren’t holding our breath for those, as they have failed to provide them for over a year.
The DA has always maintained that money should be spent on residents and not on expensive VIP Bodyguards for politicians.
We will always stand on the side of the residents of Johannesburg and the rule of law. Something the City of Johannesburg will now be forced to abide by.