A second court order has been handed down against the City of Johannesburg’s decision to appoint Floyd Brink as city manager, ordering his removal from the post in the next 10 days or once an acting person is appointed.
Wednesday’s judgment is the latest development in the long-running battle over his appointment between the ANC-run city and the DA. It comes as the City of Johannesburg is in deep crisis, facing a financial crunch and a water crisis, linked to the collapse of its infrastructure and a lack of maintenance by its entities.
The political roller-coaster in the council worsened after the 2021 local government election that left no single party with a clear majority. The City of Johannesburg has had eight mayors in three years. After being led for a short period by the DA, the current coalition includes the ANC, EFF, ActionSA and the PA.
The high court in Johannesburg directed Brink to “relinquish” his permanent appointment as city manager within 10 days or as soon as an acting city manager is appointed. It declared a resolution appointing him by the city council in November 2023 “unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid”, and set it aside.
The move marks yet another blow to the ANC-led coalition in the city, which has fought a lengthy and expensive legal battle to ensure Brink remains in his post.
The decision handed down by Judge James Wilson follows a judgment in the same court in November last year by Acting Judge Steven Budlender, which set aside Brink’s appointment by the council, declaring it unconstitutional and invalid. The court at that time ordered Brink to vacate his post and for the process to appoint a city manager to be started afresh.
However, instead of adhering to that judgment, the city reconvened a council meeting the very next day in which it purported to correct the procedural flaws in Brink’s original appointment and once again selected him for the post.
— Judge Wilson described the process to appoint Brink as ‘sloppy and self-serving’, which may have involved a ‘degree of deceit’.
“I am satisfied that the City breached the terms of Budlender AJ’s order, at least by readopting the resolutions he invalidated in breach of its own rules, by failing to cause Mr Brink to vacate his office and by failing to appoint an acting city manager,” Wilson said in the written judgment.
While Wilson described the process to appoint Brink as “sloppy and self-serving”, which may have involved a “degree of deceit”, he did not find the city and its officials in contempt of court for their actions.
“I cannot say that it has acted in contempt of that order. The city was wrong to construe Budlender AJ’s order as it did, and the measures it took in purported compliance with that order were insufficient.
“But there is nothing before me to suggest that its conduct, or that of its officers, was born of wilful and mala fide determination to disobey or circumvent Budlender AJ’s order, rather than an unseemly and perhaps self serving haste to negotiate the complications the order presented for the city’s administration.”
The DA has fought against Brink’s appointment since 2022, arguing that he was not qualified for the position and argued that his appointment was procedurally flawed. Brink was also censured for alleged “dereliction of duty” and “gross misconduct” in a city forensic investigation commissioned and concluded when the DA ran the City.
After his reappointment in November last year, the DA approached the court for relief in February, but the matter was struck off the roll due to lack of urgency. The matter decided on Wednesday by Wilson was argued before the court in November.
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