Judge sets mayor’s ousting aside
The decision of Ingquza Hill municipality to remove Pat Mdingi as mayor has been declared unlawful and set aside.
Mdingi was removed in an emergency council meeting on January 23 after councillors said they no longer had faith in him.
He went to the Mthatha high court asking it to declare his axing unlawful.
On Thursday, judge Richard Brooks heard Akhona Bodlani, for Mdingi, say his client was not against his removal, but his issue was with the process taken when he was fired.
“All he wants is due and lawful process,” Bodlani said.
Judge Brooks then went back and forth with Lusindiso Matotie, for the municipality and Bambezakhe Goya. Goya was voted into the position of mayor in the same council meeting that removed Mdingi.
“He [Mdingi] was removed as a member of the executive as well as mayor,” Matotie said.
Judge Brooks ruled in Mdingi’s favour saying he was inclined to grant him the relief he sought. He said Mdingi’s axing was not on the council agenda but was added later.
Judge Brooks concluded in his ruling that: “The entire process by the municipality was irrational, arbitrary and unacceptable.”
He set the removal aside.