The DA's court bid to have the Ethekwini municipality's budget hearing re-held has been struck off the roll, the judge ruling that the matter was not urgent.An urgent high court bid by the DA in Durban for Ethekwini municipality's 2020/2021 budget hearing to be re-held, was struck from the roll on Thursday.
Durban high court Judge Jacqui Henriques ruled that the matter was not “urgent”, effectively putting paid to the application because the budget will be implemented on July 1. The party wanted another “virtual meeting” to be held before then, claiming that the budget approval had been unlawful because its caucus leader Nicole Graham had been “silenced” through continuous muting while she attempted to give her presentation.Speaker Weziwe Thusi said she was investigating who was behind the muting, but said Graham had chosen to leave the meeting when she could have spoken later, once the problem had been identified and rectified.
The matter was initially set down for June 17, but could not be heard because the court was closed for cleaning after an employee tested positive for Covid-19.