High Court: Hector versus municipality
Councillor Richard Hector, of the Good party in George, has taken the municipality to the High Court in Cape Town over the cancellation of his shareholder’s contract. As a shareholder in George Link, the operating company of Go George, Hector is disputing the reasons for the cancellation last year August by George Municipality and George Link.
According to Hector’s attorney, Francois van Zyl, they were informed on 16 July that the exceptions raised by the municipality’s legal council have been dismissed. “All exceptions raised were found to be without merit, with a cost order against the municipality. This is good news, since it confirms we have a case,” said Van Zyl.
Municipal Communications Manager Chantel Edwards-Klose said the court’s ruling was on exceptions raised, and not on the merits of the claim. “This is still in process and will be heard at a later stage.”
Hector said the case involves inequality in the issuing of taxi permits. “Since the roll-out of Go George, there have been specified dates allocated for the roll-out of the routes. Originally there was no split in the roll-out of the Parkdene / Thembalethu bus route, it was only decided later when they had trouble to roll out to Thembalethu.
“I’ve handed in my permits for the Rosemoor and Pacaltsdorp routes with the roll-out of these bus routes, but find it unfair that 60 new permits were issued to Thembalethu last year, whereas taxi operators in Parkdene had to hand in their permits.
I decided to hold on to mine. I did try to hand it in when I was the only one left with a permit, but they refused and cancelled my contract. The Go George Project is driven by provincial officials and here in George it is headed by director Steven Erasmus. The approval of new permits to a selected part of our communities is part of the ‘divide and rule’ tactics of the municipality of our communities.
“After all these years we are not a step closer to rolling out phase 4 of this project. Instead, the new permits issued will operate in competition with the buses.”
Edwards-Klose intimated that Hector can expect to be taken to task for his accusations. “In correction, the municipality wishes to confirm that permit applications are approved by a Permit Committee and not an individual. The comments made to the media by Councillor Hector are herewith noted, and will be forwarded to the Office of the Speaker for further investigation with regards to the Councillor Code of Conduct.”