Budget case loss costs DA R300k

THE DA has had to pay more than R340 000 to the ethekwini Municipality to save its assets from being attached by the sheriff of the court after losing a court case against the municipality with costs.

The DA, the official opposition in the council, has owed the municipality since 2020. The debt emanated from legal costs that the party incurred after its application to prevent the municipality from adopting the 2020/21 budget was dismissed with costs.

The DA had applied to the Durban High Court for a declaratory order, claiming that the first virtual budget adoption meeting, which took place on May 29, 2020, was illegal.

In the court papers, the then DA caucus leader, Nicole Graham, complained that she was not given a chance to comment on the budget because her microphone was muted by the then-council Speaker, Weziwe Thusi, during the virtual budget adoption meeting. Graham had started her address, however her microphone was muted numerous times.

Thusi stood down the proceedings to investigate whether the muting problem was specific to Graham or to all the speakers. She then changed the order of speakers, calling upon a councillor from the IFP to address the council.

The DA opposed this and requested that other speakers should wait their turn until Graham had completed her address. However, the Speaker told Graham she would be able to speak after the other councillor.

When Thusi called on Graham to address the council, she discovered that Graham had left the meeting, along with other councillors aligned to the DA, resulting in the budget being adopted in the absence of the DA.

In its responding papers, the municipality argued and requested the court to recognise that the DA’S constitutional rights and dignity had not been violated; that enough public engagement in the budgetary process had occurred; and that the Speaker had conducted the meeting legitimately.

The court found that the Speaker did not prevent the DA from making submissions on the 2020/21 budget. In fact, the Speaker advised Graham that she would be able to speak after the other councillors. Instead of remaining in attendance and insisting on being heard, Graham decided to leave without the permission of the speaker, violating the by-law. The court dismissed the case with costs.

However, the party refused to pay the costs, which prompted the municipality to approach the court to obtain a warrant of execution to compel the DA to pay the money.

In August, the court directed the sheriff of the court to attach movable goods belonging to the DA at their headquarters in Cape Town to be sold by public auction to recover the money. Last month, the party paid the money into the sheriff’s account, including interest as determined by the court.

ethekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said for the past two years, the city had been trying to recover the money – up until a decision to serve the DA head office with a warrant of execution as an indication of an intention to attach its assets.

“It is strange that the DA, which always claimed to be the paragon of good governance and the rule of law, had to be forced by the City to comply with the court order and to pay its debt.

“This has exposed the DA’S double standards as it is quick to demand ratepayers to service their debts on time, while it has taken it two years to return the ratepayers’ money to the City coffers.

“We want to make it clear that we will spare no effort in recovering monies owed to the City, regardless of the time it takes. The City has a clear plan of collecting debts and we will not be pressured by the DA, which has a questionable record of servicing its debts,” said Kaunda.

Dion George, the DA’S finance chairperson, confirmed that the party settled the debt.