The Constitutional Court (ConCourt) has confirmed a lower court ruling that set aside a clause of a municipal law that sought to bar all municipal employees from holding political positions in various political parties in the country.
The ConCourt sitting in Braamfontein, Joburg, made the order confirming the ruling on Wednesday. It sent it to all parties that were involved in the litigation process that started in July 2023.
That was after the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) fought tooth and nail to have the law set aside. The was promulgated by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA).
CoGTA claimed that the law was necessary to ensure that service delivery is not hampered. Also that municipalities remain professional workplaces.
However, the law hit a hurdle when it used the words “staff member”. It was argued that it meant that all municipal employees cannot hold political positions. Thus it ended up in the Concourt. But the law was meant to bar only municipal managers and the directors who directly report to municipal managers.
The law was promulgated in August 2022 and the legal battle to set it aside has been in court since then. Samwu took on CoGTA and SALGA (the South Local Government Association) regarding the matter.
Despite losing in the Concourt, the judges found that CoGTA was able to justify its argument. It was able to justify that the limitations on municipal managers and directors from holding political offices was justified. It also noted that the process of fully freeing municipalities from harmful politics would not be achieved with this measure alone.
Samwu is an affiliate of Cosatu. It wields considerable influence in several municipalities governed by the ANC across the country.
