DA welcomes high court dismissal of Umdoni Municipality’s leave to appeal

28 February 2024

The Democratic Alliance in KwaZulu-Natal welcomes today’s high court dismissal of the Umdoni Municipality’s leave to appeal application in its desperate attempt to cling on to a council seat it is not entitled to.

Umdoni municipality had attempted to overturn an earlier high court ruling which found that the municipality had illegally reallocated a DA seat to the ANC. The court recognised Councillor Shamilla Sookhraj as a legitimate Executive Council Member.

It is unthinkable that a municipality with strained financial resources suffering under service delivery challenges could continue to waste public money in its attempt to defend the indefensible.

The DA welcomes the court’s dismissal of the municipality’s appeal application which paves the way for Councillor Sookhraj to take up her seat as Executive Councillor in Umdoni’s Executive Committee.

We also welcome that the disgraced Municipal Manager, Thabisile Ndlela, will have to personally pay for costs out of her own pocket after the High Court found her behavior to be “egregious” in denying the DA and Councillor Sookhraj their rights.

Today’s swift dismissal should serve as a further warning for the ANC and its aligned officials that the DA will not hesitate to approach the courts in defense of the rule of law and we will not allow them to use precious public funding to defend their undemocratic actions.

Statement issued by Dean Macpherson - DA KZN Chairperson, 28 February 2024