Nelson Mandela Bay acting mayor Buyeye loses bid to stop Bhisho's council intervention

Nelson Mandela Bay acting mayor Thsonono Buyeye has lost his bid to stop co-operative governance MEC Xolile Nqatha from intervening in the metro's affairs.

Buyeye launched an urgent bid in the high court in Makhanda  after Nqatha threatened to dissolve the metro's council.

Judge Sunil Rugananan dismissed the application with costs on Tuesday. 

While Buyeyeideally wanted the provincial government to butt out, Nqatha believes an intervention is essential.

He sought to interdict Nqatha and the provincial government from invoking Section 139(1)(a) of the constitution.

This section states that when a municipality cannot fulfil an executive obligation, the relevant provincial executive may intervene.

If invoked, this could ultimately lead to the council being dissolved and an administrator appointed.

The courtaction stems from a letter Nqatha wrote to Buyeye in July in which he gave the municipality an opportunity to motivate why the council should not be dissolved.

In his judgment, Rugananan said Buyeye had failed to show he had the legal standing to force Nqatha to stay away from the municipality's affairs.

"It is settled that in order to justify participation in a suit such as [this] a party must show that it has a direct and substantial interest in its subject matter and in its outcome

"What is required is a legal interest in the subject matter of the proceedings that would be prejudicially affected by the judgment of the court.

"It stands to reason that [Buyeye] has not discharged the onus of proving his self-acknowledged substantial and legal interest in the outcome of these proceedings such as would entitle them to participate and seek the relief claimed."

The letter raised three major issues:

• A failure to fill the executive mayor post;
• The appointment of Mvuleni Mapu, “an unqualified official”, as acting municipal manager; and
• The National Treasury’s threat to cut grants.

Buyeye told the court the municipality had submitted a comprehensive response to Nqatha.