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Anton Bredell, the Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning in the Western Cape has welcomed a decision handed down by the Constitutional Court regarding the constitutional validity of a provision of the Local Government Municipal Structures Act (Structures Act).

Minister Bredell says the issue in question was whether the the Speaker of a municipal council could cast a deciding vote, in addition to his or her vote as a councillor, where there is an equal number of votes by council members.

“In 2014 the Oudtshoorn council under its previous leadership voted on its 2014/15 budget. There was a deadlock in the votes and the Speaker, who had already voted, cast a deciding vote relying on the provisions of the Structures Act to justify this action.  I believed this to have been unconstitutional given my understanding of section 160(2) of the Constitution.

Bredell says after several unsuccessful attempts to get the cooperation of the Oudtshoorn council in the resolution of this matter, he took the issue to the Western Cape High Court as he believed the Speaker’s actions in this regard had been unconstitutional.

“The High Court agreed with me and held that it was unconstitutional for a Speaker to cast two votes in order to break a tie in votes on any of the issues listed in Section160 (2) of the Constitution and that the relevant section of the Structures Act which the Speaker had chosen to rely on in order to do so was unconstitutional. I then approached the Constitutional Court for its confirmation of the order of constitutional invalidity.  The court has now granted that confirmation.”

Dr Ivan Meyer, the Western Cape Minister of Finance has also welcomed the judgement.
“By confirming the constitutional principle that the speaker of a municipality does not have a casting vote in the passing of a municipal budget, the Court has confirmed our view that the Oudtshoorn Council by doing so had acted unlawfully. The decision of the Constitutional Court places the Oudtshoorn Municipality back onto the road of sound financial governance”.

Bredell says that the Constitutional court’s judgment states that the decision will not apply retrospectively.

The latest judgement is the second time in less than 12 months where the Constitutional court has agreed with the decisions and steps taken by Minister Bredell’s department.

“I am proud of the way the department and our officials have handled this case. The court’s finding in our favour points to an internal maturity and depth of understanding of the law. The latest precedent setting judgement will now provide clarity to councils across the country.”

Issued by Western Cape Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning