The Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Sipho Hlomuka has welcomed an interdict issued by the Pietermaritzburg High Court which has effectively reinstated the originally elected leadership, including the mayor, deputy mayor and the speaker of the Mtubatuba local municipality.
The MEC approached the court after the municipality subsequently elected a parallel mayor, deputy mayor and speaker as well as appointing an Acting MM at a council sitting that was seen as unlawful. The municipality which remains under administration thus ended up with two mayors, two deputy mayors and two speakers and without much-needed stability.
“We are pleased that the court has sided with our argument which deemed the election of parallel Mtubatuba office bearers unlawful. The court’s interdict has served to restore basic governance, administration and service delivery at Mtubatuba,” said KZN MEC for Cogta Sipho Hlomuka.
KZN Cogta hoped that the instability that marked the previous term of local government at Mtubatuba would end with a new council after last year’s local government elections. This, however, was not the case after a parallel leadership was elected later and the department had to turn to courts to enforce stability there.
The matter is back in court for full argument on 26 January where KZN Cogta will re-enforce its argument and maintain that the municipal leadership elected after the 2021 local government elections remains the legitimate leadership of Mtubatuba Municipality and that the process in which a second mayor, deputy mayor and a speaker were elected as well as the appointment of the Acting Municipal Management was unlawful.
Issued by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
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