The high court in Gqeberha has reserved judgment in a matter between the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality and three Northern Alliance councillors, including the party’s president, Gary van Niekerk.
The municipality had appealed against an interim order allowing Van Niekerk, Bevan Brown and Stag Mitchell to attend council meetings while other court matters involving the trio are being dealt with.
Arguments on the interim order were heard by lawyers representing both parties on Friday.
Attorney Kuban Chetty, representing the metro, said the judge had reserved judgment to consider the arguments and review a bundle of case law presented by the legal teams.
Northern Alliance secretary-general Vasu Padayachy told Weekend Post he believed that the court would ultimately rule in favour of Van Niekerk and the others.
“We believe from our side there will be no other outcome than dismissing the appeal with costs,” he said.
The municipality and city manager Noxolo Nqwazi have asked the court to set aside the interim order, which allowed the three NA members to attend an August 30 council meeting and a variation order that enabled them to attend a second meeting on Wednesday.
Van Niekerk insists that he is still speaker of the Bay council, despite various attempts to unseat him.
He maintained that Wednesday’s council meeting was abruptly ended to prevent a vote to oust mayor Eugene Johnson, her deputy Buyelwa Mafaya and chief whip Wandisile Jikeka.
The application to appeal against the interim court order was filed before Wednesday’s meeting was adjourned.
Van Niekerk has been in and out of court recently, obtaining interdicts against the IEC and municipality to bar them from filling his post as speaker after he was ousted from his party — by an internal faction he described as “detractors” — during an informal meeting in December in a parking lot in Cleary Park.
In June, acting high court judge Jean Nepgen granted an application by Van Niekerk, Brown and Mitchell for interdictory relief and restrained eight party members from making representations concerning the trio’s membership status.
This included preventing them from using any official party emblems in correspondence of any sort.
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