Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, has hit back at a court bid challenging his recent appointments to the board of the Independent Development Trust (IDT).
Two organisations, Black Forum South Africa and Izwi Labantu Forum, have launched legal proceedings to overturn the appointments of five trustees selected by Macpherson to fill existing vacancies. The newly appointed trustees will serve until July 4 2025.
In his responding affidavit, Macpherson argues that the court challenge is based on an incorrect interpretation of the IDT’s founding document.
Candidates are suitable for the job
“There is no merit to the contentions made in the supporting affidavits. In any event, there are serious legal barriers to the merits of Part A even being considered.
“From the outset, I must emphasise that there is no complaint about the qualifications or suitability of the five trustees I appointed,” he said.
Macpherson added that the applicants have not raised any concerns regarding the competence of the individuals appointed. This reinforces his belief that the court application is an abuse of process.
“There is no urgency to the application, and any urgency that may appear to exist is self-created. There are no applicants properly before this court. The relief sought is legally incompetent,” Macpherson stated.
He further argued that the application was lodged on an urgent basis even before the appointments were officially made. And he claims this was done to create a false sense of urgency.
Minister wants case withdrawn
“The applicants are invited to withdraw this application. Now that they must appreciate that when I appointed the five new trustees, I did so because vacancies existed,” he said.
Macpherson has asked the court to dismiss the application and order the applicants to pay legal costs.
“In the circumstances, I request this court to dismiss the relief sought in Part A of the application with costs. Such costs are to include the costs of two counsel, where so employed, on the C scale,” said Macpherson.
