High Court dismissal of Minister’s order misleading

Claims by the Western Provincial Assembly Speaker that the High Court had dismissed orders by the Minister for Provincial Governments, Rollen Seleso were not only erroneous but fundamentally misleading.

Minister Rollen Seleso

In responding to the claims, the Ministry today issued a statement clarifying that the agenda items for postponing the Assembly Meeting of the Western Province Assembly will proceed as ordered by the Minister.

“In fact there is no ‘dismissal’ on the order and despite the postponement of the Assembly meeting to 29th November 2021, as per the Order of the High Court, the order ruled that the agenda items of the proposed meeting will still stand according to the Ministerial Order,” the statement said. 

This means the motion of no confidence against the Premier will proceed whether or not the Premier attends the Assembly meeting on the 29th of November 2021.

The Ministry clarifies that it would be misleading to view that the Ministerial Order dated 5th of November 2021 was “thrown out” or “dismissed” by the Court Order. The High Court only gave order for the change of date of the Assembly meeting and not an outright dismissal of the Ministerial Order. 

The Minister previously ordered that the date of meeting should be on the 11th of November 2021, but the high court ordered it to be postponed to 29th November 2021. All agenda items remain the same.  This should not be confused as highlighted by the Western Provincial Executive and some media statements.

The Ministry wishes to ensure that democratic processes need to be respected and that whatever actions or decisions taken by the Western Provincial Assembly and particularly its leaders should be respected. 

It again calls for calm since there is a likely Motion of no confidence against the premier and the revised Budget session for the financial year 2021/2022.

Meanwhile, the Attorney-General after reviewing the Order has filed an Application to Set Aside the Orders made by the High Court. The Application will be heard when the High Court issues a return date. 

In the meantime, the Ministry further calls on the Speaker and Executive to refrain from making statements that are not only erroneous but are fundamentally misleading.

-GCU

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