- The High Court found the Speaker acted unlawfully when he deducted 13 votes cast during a Tshwane council meeting.
- Acting Judge Pillay put Johann Mettler’s suspension on hold until the review application is decided.
- The court ordered the City not to implement the suspension or appoint a different acting city manager.
Johann Mettler is back at his desk as Tshwane’s city manager after a dramatic battle that saw the High Court overturn his suspension and rule that the Speaker had acted unlawfully.
Acting Judge KL Pillay gave judgment after the DA urgently applied to the court. The case was against the Speaker, Municipal Council, City of Tshwane, Executive Mayor Nasiphi Moya, Mettler, and Chief Financial Officer Gareth Mnisi. This application is part of a larger review aimed at overturning council resolutions made on 9 July 2026.
Council vote sparked legal battle
The dispute started after a special council meeting on 9 July 2026, where councillors passed two resolutions. The first put Mettler on precautionary suspension while allegations of misconduct were investigated. The second found that Mnisi had committed misconduct and should face disciplinary action.
The DA first asked for relief on both resolutions but later dropped the part concerning Mnisi. The urgent application instead focused on the Speaker’s decision to exclude votes from councillors who had been granted leave of absence.
The judgment says 10 councillors who had been given leave still attended the meeting, took part in the debate, and voted. Another councillor from a different party joined after withdrawing their leave. The Speaker decided that councillors with leave were not allowed to take part and later deducted 13 votes from the count for Mettler.
After removing those votes, the Speaker said 92 councillors supported suspending Mettler, and 82 were against. If the 13 votes had been included, the resolution would have failed, and Mettler would not have been suspended.
Court says Speaker exceeded his powers
The DA argued that the Speaker had no legal right to subtract votes that were already cast by councillors who were physically present. They also said that if the suspension stayed in place, an unlawfully appointed acting city manager could make major decisions about procurement, the budget and finances before the courts could even test the legality of the council’s resolution.
Those opposing the DA said the Speaker had the power to control council proceedings and decide if councillors on leave could take part. Judge Pillay disagreed, saying that voting in council meetings is central to constitutional local government and can’t be overridden by the Speaker. “Voting at a council meeting is sacrosanct,” said the judge.
Judge Pillay also said that deciding if a councillor can vote shouldn’t depend on the sometimes unclear decisions of just one official. The court found the Speaker had gone beyond his authority.
“The Speaker did not have the authority to decide who could vote or to subtract votes that were already cast,” Judge Pillay found. The judgment also rejected the Speaker’s view that councillors granted leave were no longer present for voting purposes.
The court said there is nothing in the rules that suggests ‘presence’ means only being eligible to be present, rather than actually being there. Judge Pillay concluded that, at least on the face of it, the Speaker’s removal of the disputed votes was unlawful.
Court finds urgent intervention necessary
The court also found that the case was urgent. Judge Pillay said that if the Speaker’s actions were unlawful, then decisions made by an acting city manager appointed because of that could be hard to undo later, especially when it comes to tenders, procurement and the City’s finances.
The judge also rejected the argument that the DA should have gone through the Rules and Ethics Committee first. “There is no other way to address the DA’s need for relief,” the judgment said.
DA welcomes judgment
The DA welcomed the ruling, saying it was a win for the rule of law and for accountable local government. DA caucus leader Cilliers Brink said the judgment restored lawful administration to the City by ordering Mettler to return as city manager.
He said the court had confirmed that political majorities cannot ignore the law, bend council processes or use city institutions to protect their political friends.
Brink accused the ANC-EFF-ActionSA coalition of trying to push aside a capable city manager while protecting their own interests. “The aim was to install an acting city manager at the start of the financial year, take control of the City’s budget and open the door to looting,” he said.
Brink said the court case was about shielding the City’s administration from political interference. He said the case was about stopping the capture of Tshwane’s administration and defending institutions that belong to the people, not to politicians who only hold office for a while.
He said the outcome showed the need for a strong opposition. “The court’s decision proves there are real consequences when the law is ignored,” Brink said.
He added that the judgment showed just how important it is to have a strong opposition. “We didn’t have executive power, but we exposed and challenged unlawful conduct, and in the end we defeated it in court.”
Mettler returns pending review
Judge Pillay granted the temporary relief the DA asked for. The court put Mettler’s suspension on hold immediately, pending the outcome of the next part of the application.
The order means Mettler can go back to work as city manager. It also stops the Speaker, Municipal Council, City of Tshwane and Moya from implementing the suspension or putting anyone else in the city manager’s job.
The next part of the case, which asks the court to permanently overturn the council’s resolutions, was postponed for now. The court did not make a final decision on costs yet.
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