Not urgent, court tells ANC in no confidence application

A motion of no confidence against Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba and Joburg speaker Vasco da Gama will have to wait for the Johannesburg ANC, as the High Court in Johannesburg scrapped an urgent application by the ANC from the urgent court roll.

Acting Judge Sydwell Shangisa scrapped the application from the roll, citing a lack of urgency. He ordered the ANC to pay the legal costs of both Mashaba and Da Gama.

ANC Johannesburg spokesman Jolidee Matongo said on Tuesday evening the party would approach the Constitutional Court on an urgent basis as it still believed a decision taken in the city’s programming committee was unlawful.

Tony Taverna-Turison, Mashaba’s legal adviser, said they welcomed the outcome, since they felt the application had been frivolous.

Earlier, Mashaba and Da Gama’s legal counsels accused the ANC of abusing court processes in its attempt to have a decision not to table motions of no confidence against Mashaba and Da Gama declared unlawful and unconstitutional.

The ANC also wanted the vote to be held by secret ballot.

Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, for the speaker, said council rules clearly provided for an open vote, by either a show of hands or by simply saying yes or no.

Dali Mpofu, for the mayor, said the ANC application was the biggest abuse of court processes he had ever seen, as there was no legal dispute between the parties.

The ANC also asked the court to uphold the Constitutional Court judgment that found that the speaker of the National Assembly had the discretion to decide whether a vote of no confidence could take place by secret ballot.

Ngcukaitobi said there was no basis for urgency and that the urgency was self-created.