Some City of Jo’burg councillors are in the cross-hairs after a court ordered that City Manager Floyd Brink must resign because his reappointment was unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid. This ruling comes after the Democratic Alliance (DA) challenged Brink’s appointment in court after the ANC/ EFF/ PA/ActionSA coalition supported his irregular appointment. In this interview with BizNews, DA’ Caucus Leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku says: “…we have written already…to the Minister and the MEC and the National Treasury and the AG to look at fruitless and wasteful expenditure with a view to recover the cost from these councillors who voted in favour of these unlawful decisions.” Meanwhile, they are awaiting the City’s next move: “We haven’t seen any reaction from the City Manager himself, now former City Manager, but we have seen statements from the Executive Mayor who said they are still studying the judgment to determine what will be the next directive to take. We’ve also seen this morning a statement by the Speaker requesting for an amicable solution; and we’re not so sure whatever that means because in our view, the law is the law and the rule of law is the rule of law.” She also details plans to deal with the water crisis and cadre deployment.
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Extended transcript of the interview ___STEADY_PAYWALL___
Chris Steyn (00:02.576)
Johannesburg City Manager Floyd Brink is out for the second time. We speak to the Democratic Alliance’s Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku about the court battle it took to achieve that. Welcome, Belinda.
Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku (00:16.856)
Good morning, Kirsty, and good morning to the listeners and the viewers.
Chris Steyn (00:22.672)
Belinda, please give us the gist of the judgment in your favour.
Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku (00:28.268)
Well, we’re very pleased that the judge ruled in our favour. It’s been almost two-year battle. Obviously, we took it to court initially after we had tried to get it, you know, not passed in council. But because it was steamrolled through the numbers in council, we lost and we put our dissent on record.
Basically, what we had asked the courts to do is to declare his appointment unlawful, unconstitutional and invalid. And we are very pleased that the judge was very specific and detailed in the judgment yesterday. So we’re very pleased with the judgment, as detailed as it is.
Chris Steyn (01:19.59)
So he’s been given 10 days to vacate his office. Has there been any reaction from him?
Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku (01:27.054)
We haven’t seen any reaction from the City Manager himself, now former City Manager, but we have seen statements from the Executive Mayor who said they are still studying the judgment to determine what will be the next, you know, directive to take. We’ve also seen this morning a statement by the Speaker requesting for an amicable solution and we’re not so sure whatever that means because in our view, the law is the law and the rule of law is the rule of law. And the judge was very explicit in his judgment yesterday. So there’s very mixed reaction that we’ve seen from the City. We’ll have to wait and see what the Executive Mayor will be doing later on.
But I can also tell you what we are doing next, but as we go through the conversation. What we are doing next is we don’t believe that Floyd Brink, the City Manager, has appointed himself. He was appointed by Council. He was appointed by councillors who voted in favour of this unlawful decision that is now going to cost the city quite a bit of money. We’re trying to determine the exact cost, but…
Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku (02:53.312)
I can tell you our counsel is close to half a million and they have to pay some of our fees. We can only imagine that the average cost, obviously the City would probably have spent about the same amount of money for the senior counsel which brings it close to a million Rand. That you and I, residents of Johannesburg are paying for.
And we saying Floyd did not appoint himself. These councillors, who were cautioned about these decisions in Council when we raised our dissent, still decided to vote in favor. And that’s why we wrote to National Treasury, the Auditor General and COGTA to request that these councillors be held responsible for these unlawful decisions..that is now the third time in court and declared unlawful, unconstitutional invalid and look at possible violation of the Municipal Finance Management Act, which relates to the conduct of councillors and voting in favor of unlawful decisions. So we have written already, I sent the letter off last night, to the Minister and the MEC and the National Treasury and the AG to look at fruitless and wasteful expenditure with a view to recover the cost from these councillors who voted in favour of these unlawful decisions.
Chris Steyn (04:22.118)
Please remind our viewers what happened to the City of Johannesburg under the management of Floyd Brink.
Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku (04:29.634)
Well, what we see happening in Johannesburg is that we have seen it’s not his fault, but the after effects of what’s being done, for example, with the Lillian Ngoyi Street, there has been a less than adequate response and holding officials accountable for the countless delays that’s happening. And he is the accounting officer who had the power to go and interrogate how money is being spent and things like that. You can also ask for group governance to give reports on what the boards have been doing at least to hold people accountable.
Traffic lights are not working. There are accidents on the road. People are getting mugged while waiting for traffic lights. JMPD is nowhere to be seen.
And water crisis, we’re currently in the middle of a water crisis which is not necessarily his doing. However, holding officials accountable that are not responding on time and to the residents queries and concerns. For example, I’m just going to use a simple example. I’m a ward councillor as well. And I have watched sewer leaks that you have to plead and beg for days to be fixed. Now that on its own also is a health hazard.
So these are the type of things that collapse of service delivery that he has overseen in the city. And, you know, people underestimate the power that city manager has. He can actually almost advise the executive on some of the decisions to say, perhaps we shouldn’t do this this time, or perhaps we should look at other options. Perhaps, you know, we should bring in the private sector much earlier you know, try and cut red tape. He’s the CEO of the whole city. So basically he has got quite a bit of power to exert and execute, you know, and hold officials accountable. And in our view, he’s not done that.
And also not play that bit of an advisory role based on experience being in the city for quite some time to tell the executive…
Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku (06:54.006)
this is where we could go wrong, maybe we shouldn’t bring this report to Council and things like that. So he’s failed in our view to run the city effectively. So for us, it’s a matter of if you have failed, you were not appointed correctly with the correct process, then he’s got to go. And if it was anybody else, we would have done the same.
Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku (07:18.678)
It’s not about an individual. It’s about the rule of law and about the residents and how their money is being spent.
Chris Steyn (07:27.194)
Now, what battle is next between the Democratic Alliance and the African National Congress-led Alliance in the city?
Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku (07:35.79)
Look, I wouldn’t look at it as a battle. I always say to, I have a very cordial relationship with all parties in Council, except for the ones who calls me names most of the time, like the EFF. But it’s about the residents. It’s about not spending residents’ money frivolously.
And the battle that we have started already is the water. We have been saying to the residents, to the City, to the Executive Mayor, that the response is wholly inadequate. We have Joburg Water Board members who are also SMMEs and doing business with the City, which is a clear conflict of interest. So you cannot sit on a board and have interest in what happens. There are no technical expertise that is sufficient that sits on that board to be able to hold officials accountable based on technical expertise. Those, our next battle is the boards of these entities because the decisions that are being made that come to Council, which is then steamrolled because of the numerical advantage that the current coalition has, could some of them could be challenged in court, which obviously could lead to fruitless, irregular and wasteful expenditure by the AG.
And those are some of the issues we…our battle is never about the ANC or about any particular political party. I’m sure you would have noticed sometimes people would think the DA will take up an issue and we are quiet. One of the reasons is because we want to get our facts in order.
We are listening, we consult with the residents through our ward councillors, through some councillors where it’s sometimes in ANC wards who are asking us to take up particular challenges because it affects service delivery, not because of politics.
So the battle basically is the boards, how it’s constituted and also cadre deployment. The fact that people are not put in positions…
Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku (09:56.302)
because of the experience or expertise, but people are put in positions because they are politically aligned to political parties currently in the City.
We’ve had an outcry from graduates, specifically some graduates in places like Soweto, places like Alexandra, Diepsloot. For example, graduates who’ve completed their studies, they’ve done some intern work and things like that and are asking questions like, Belinda, but why are you people not employing and putting us with our engineering expertise on these boards, for example, so we can also see where things go wrong and possibly advise because we have studied for this, we have some experience with this – and they’re not doing it. So we have a bit of an outcry from graduates as well. We’re sitting with these qualifications. Some of them are unemployed and they could add value to the city, but they are sidelined because they are not politically aligned to the current coalition in the City of Joburg.
Chris Steyn (11:07.61)
Thank you very much. That was the Democratic Alliance’s Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku speaking to BizNews about the latest developments in governance in the City of Joburg. And I’m Chris Steyn. Thank you so much, Belinda.
Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku (11:21.496)
Thank you so much.
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