The FF Plus considers the appeal that the provincial ANC government in Gauteng plans to lodge against the setting aside of the administration process of the Tshwane Metro as nothing but a desperate attempt to gain power in the Metro in an undemocratic manner.
The court ruling of the North Gauteng High Court made it very clear that Lebogang Maile, MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), did not fulfil his own duties before he placed the Tshwane Metro under administration.
He is, thus, personally responsible for the setting aside of the administration process. There is not much chance that a higher court will come to a different conclusion.
The fact that Maile has still not taken any action to place the city council of Emfuleni under administration, even though it is experiencing much worse service delivery problems and is illegally polluting the Vaal River, indicates that the Gauteng government is protecting ANC councillors and actively trying to undermine coalition city councils. It shows that the ANC has no regard for democracy whatsoever.
The FF Plus will advise the initial applicants in the case to request the court to issue a punitive court order against Maile personally due to his trivial appeal and needless squandering of taxpayers' money.
By doing this, the ANC is only plunging the Tshwane Metro and all its residents into even deeper uncertainty, while the local government elections will probably be held in just over a year.
If Maile's appeal should be successful, it would result in a ludicrous situation where a very expensive by-election will have to be held in the Metro and then within a year, the local government elections will take place on national level in any case.
This is clearly a waste of money and energy, causing voter fatigue among residents, while all they really want, but do not get, is proper service delivery.
The appeal by the Gauteng ANC government just serves as more proof that the ANC does not govern in the best interest of the people and, thus, it deserves to be removed from power. This process will take place in every single municipal council during the 2021 local government elections in any case.
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