Mashaba guns for Luthuli House
Sheriff poised to attach property
The ANC has three days to pay the City of Johannesburg R300 000 or have its properties attached and seized.
Mayor Herman Mashaba announced yesterday that he had obtained a writ of execution against the ANC following “its failure to pay over R300 000 in legal fees owed to the city and its residents”.
Mashaba made it clear that they were gunning for the property in the ANC’s headquarters, Luthuli House, in downtown Johannesburg.
“Should the ANC fail to honour this payment by Friday, the city has instructed its lawyers to proceed with the execution of the court order, which will result in R300 000 worth of property being seized from the ANC headquarters, Luthuli House, by the sheriff of the high court,” Mashaba said in a statement.
The city obtained the judicial order against the ANC on June 5, ironically a day after its council had rejected Mashaba’s budget after the former governing party in the metro had voted against it.
Mashaba will, for the third time today, attempt to get council approval for his amended budget. He denied the decision was retaliation because EFF and ANC councillors had rejected his budget.
“This matter came to my attention this afternoon (yesterday) after our legal team brought it up … the ANC has been owing for a very long time and that money doesn’t belong to me but the people of Johannesburg,” he said.
The ANC in Johannesburg said it was aware of the cost order against them but wasn’t aware of any deadline to pay.
“We will be consulting our lawyers on this, it could be a matter of miscommunication,” spokesman Jolidee Matongo said last night.
Mashaba said the money related to a failed urgent application by the ANC against the city last September for a motion of no confidence against him and speaker Vasco da Gama by secret ballot.