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[1] The applicants seek in the main, to have declared null and void and therefore the setting aside of the appointment of the respondents as its general managers in terms of sections 56(2) and 66(4) of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000 (the Municipal Systems Act).   

[2] The first applicant came out of the disestablishment of Inkwanca, Tsolwana and Lukhanji Local Municipalities and the amalgamation of those municipal areas into Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality.  This was done through Provincial Notice No.182 of 2016 published in Provincial Gazette No. 3717 dated 8 August 2016.  The disestablishment of those former local municipalities and the establishment of the first applicant was done by the Member of the Executive Council responsible for local government in the Eastern Cape acting in terms of sections 12, 14 and 17 of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998.

[3] The second applicant is the administrator of the first applicant having been appointed as such in terms of sections 139(1)(b) and 139(5) of the Constitution.[1]  It appears that the second applicant’s appointment was a necessary intervention by the Provincial Government to ameliorate the effects of the service delivery failures by the first applicant, the sale in execution of some of its assets due to its inability to meet its financial commitments and other administrative lapses.  The terms of reference were broadly, the financial management and administration of the first applicant with particular focus on credit control, debt collection, supply chain management and the development of the financial recovery plan.