City responds to court delaying tactics claims

THANK you for affording the City of Cape Town the opportunity to respond to the article “Officials accused of delaying tactics in demolition” (April 17, Cape Times).

The City submitted a detailed response timeously to the Cape Times explaining why there was a delay in the high court proceedings.

The line used in the story which read “Mayco member for human settlements Malusi Booi said the matter had been postponed to allow the City the opportunity to respond to affidavits, which he charged were contrary to the rules of court” is extremely shoddy as it doesn’t reflect the true reasons why there was a delay in the proceedings – the reasons given in the very same sentence which was cut out.

The reason why the matter was postponed until April 17, 2020, was to allow the City the opportunity to respond to four further affidavits filed by the applicant contrary to the rules of court, with the last one having been served on the City only on the morning of April 16, 2020, at 10.35. The matter was scheduled to be heard at 10 in the morning. So the affidavits by the applicants were submitted 35 minutes after the start of the hearing.

The City was then afforded the opportunity to work through the affidavits submitted on the same morning of the hearing.

The above reason should have been correctly carried in the story to give your readers a true reflection of what caused the delay. | LUTHANDO TYHALIBONGO, City of Cape Town

Our report carried a fair reflection of the City’s response given the limited space.

The City’s full response can be found on https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/ news/city-accused-of-delaying-tacticsover-legal-bid-to-halt-khayelitsha-homedemolitions-46824212)