The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Tshwane has approached the Gauteng Division of the High Court on an urgent basis to set aside the Council decisions to suspend City Manager Johann Mettler and to classify the alleged misconduct of Chief Financial Officer Gareth Mnisi as “less serious”.
Please see court papers and English and Afrikaans soundbites by Ald Cilliers Brink
During the Special Council meeting on 9 July, the Tshwane Speaker rigged the votes that produced these outcomes. After councillors had cast their votes, the Speaker deliberately subtracted votes and reversed the results to achieve predetermined outcomes—suspending a City Manager who stood in the way of corruption while letting the CFO off lightly.
It is difficult to overstate the seriousness of this. Those entrusted with upholding the democratic processes of Council acted unlawfully by overturning the votes of elected public representatives. This was a blatant abuse of power and a complete disregard for the rule of law and democratic processes.
The fact that the coalition of corruption believed it could do this openly in the Council chamber shows just how untouchable it has come to believe it is. If the outcome of a vote can simply be changed when the result is politically inconvenient, then democracy in the Council chamber becomes meaningless.
On each of the votes concerning Mr Mettler and Mr Mnisi, precisely 13 votes were deducted from whichever side stood in the way of the outcome favoured by the ANC and EFF.
On the suspension of Mr Mettler, 92 councillors voted in favour and 95 voted against. The motion to suspend him had therefore failed. However, after the Speaker deducted 13 votes from those who voted against the suspension, the result was changed to 92–82, and Mr Mettler was suspended.
The same thing happened in the case of Mr Mnisi. On whether the allegations against him constituted serious misconduct, 97 councillors voted in favour and 92 voted against. The Council had therefore voted to classify the allegations as serious misconduct. However, after the Speaker deducted 13 votes from those who voted in favour, the result was changed to 84–92, and the motion was defeated.
The result: a vote not to suspend Johann Mettler was turned into a decision to suspend him, while a vote to classify the allegations against Gareth Mnisi as serious misconduct was reversed.
The DA is therefore asking the Court to set aside the results produced by the Speaker’s unlawful deduction of votes and to give effect to the votes actually cast by councillors: Johann Mettler was not suspended, and the allegations against Gareth Mnisi were classified as serious misconduct.
Alternatively, we are asking the Court to order that a new Council meeting be properly convened to decide these matters, with the votes of councillors properly counted and recorded.
We are asking the Court to treat this matter with the urgency and seriousness it deserves. With Mr Mettler removed from office for three months, the coalition of corruption could have a free hand over the City’s procurement, contracts, and expenditure. By the time he returns, millions of rand in ratepayers’ money could already have been looted or committed through irregular contracts.
The DA will continue to fight for the rule of law and to protect the people of Tshwane and their hard-earned tax money from those who seek to abuse public office for their own benefit.