South Africa: Yesterday at the Pietermaritzburg High Court, the matter between the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Nongoma municipality was not heard due to the fact that the Judge dealing with the matter cited some administrative difficulties.
While, as a department, KZNCOGTA generally do not go on public platforms to discuss matters that are sub judice, the conduct/posts of 1 KznTV just left the Department with no choice!
It is a blatant lie for 1Kzn to suggest that the matter was dismissed due to the Department’s failure to submit papers! Quite to the contrary, the Department had submitted its papers within the stipulated time frames. The difficulty was on the part of the court itself, where Judge Seegobin indicated that he had not had sufficient time to look through the papers and was thus not in a position to make a ruling on whether to confirm or discharge the interim order granted to the Applicants.
The peddling of lies is another indication of how low the appetite to follow due process is. What, in fact, transpired is that the Judge ruled that all papers relating to the review must all have been filed by no later than 14 April 2023.
In the interim, both parties must jointly request the Judge President to allocate the nearest possible date to 14 April 2023. The insinuation that the Department had not filed its opposing papers is a blatant lie which can only be interpreted as desperation.
The Department calls upon media houses to be extremely circumspect when dealing with such sensitive matters and not be overzealous to report based on hearsay and corridor gossip.
The Department will defend its position on the matter of the sitting of the Nongoma Council, which was called by the MEC following a thorough process in line with the powers vested to the MEC as enshrined in section 29(1A) of the Municipal Structures Act as amended.
