Judge Pitso Molitsoane’s June 23 ruling upheld an earlier court order by his colleague Judge Ilse van Rhyn when she gave an interim order in favour of the ANC in Mangaung suspending them.
IN A DRAMATIC twist, the Mangaung Seven, made up of suspended former ANC councillors, have filed a leave to appeal.
Judge Pitso Molitsoane’s June 23 ruling upheld an earlier court order by his colleague Judge Ilse van Rhyn when she gave an interim order in favour of the ANC in Mangaung suspending them.
The group of seven, made up of Mpho Mokoakoa, Lelala Makoa, Chabedi Rampai, Lehlohonolo Moqolo, Mapaseka Mothibi-Nkoane, Puseletso Leticia Seleke and Patrick Monyakoana, confirmed to have made an appeal to Bloemfontein High Court against the entire previous judgment made against them and favouring the ANC.
In June, Judge Molitsoane gave an order with costs before last week’s highly contested by-election that saw the ANC win the wards that were contested by four of the group of seven former councillors who were contesting as independent candidates.
In their papers before the court filed on Tuesday, the group said they were seeking to challenge the ruling and wanted the interim order granted on April 14 after they were interdicted and restrained from acting as ANC councillors in the Mangaung municipality.
They also want the court to set aside the decision interdicting them from performing any duties associated with the work of councillors and attending meetings in relation to their duties as public representatives. They also want the ruling that dismissed their case with costs to be set aside.
“We hereby want the decision to be set aside and replaced, and the rule ni si granted on April 14 be discharged, so that the costs of the application in the court a quo and the application for leave to appeal are paid by the respondent (ANC), including the wasted costs occasioned by the proceedings on May 18,” the group says in their affidavit before the court.
In the build-up to the by-elections, the group lamented incidents of voter rigging and unethical conduct by members of the ANC in the province.
Allegations made by the group in recent times include alleged corruption in the municipality, lamenting that the government of the city had privatised the Bloemfontein stadium for the “usage of white people only”, and the alleged disappearance of R150 million from the council’s coffers.
They also alleged that they had been receiving death threats, allegedly from “ANC-aligned comrades”.
The ANC in the province had applied to confirm the order after some of the councillors defied the party or ignored the earlier judgment by Judge Rhyn by sitting in a council meeting that elected opposition party leader Papi Mokoena as the executive mayor of the ailing Metro on April 14.
On June 1, Acting Judge Sharon Chisiwe confirmed her interim order, which she delivered on April 20. The order temporarily barred the Afrikan Alliance of Social Democrats president, Papi Mokoena, from executing his duties as metro mayor.
The Star
