The Western Cape provincial government has no intention of challenging Monday’s high court ruling on the Erasmus commission, according to Premier Lynne Brown.
”The Western Cape provincial government fully respects the decision of Pietermaritzburg High Court judges Chris Nicholson and Kevin Swain,” she said in a statement issued on Monday night.
”The provincial government will ensure it abides by their decision in every respect.”
Brown’s statement was the final nail in the coffin for the commission, set up by former premier Ebrahim Rasool last year to probe alleged irregularities in the City of Cape Town.
The two judges, sitting in the Cape High Court, found that he set up the commission merely in a bid to politically embarrass the Democratic Alliance (DA), and that it was unconstitutional.
The ruling followed a challenge by the City of Cape Town and the DA, which leads the city government.
Brown, who took over the premiership last month when Rasool was axed by his African National Congress, said she noted that the court’s decision did not preclude prosecution of individuals who might have broken the law with respect to the matters that were to have been investigated by the commission.
This was a matter for the police, prosecutors and the courts.
She said the Constitution provided a mechanism to solve ”intractable problems” between spheres of government, such as the city and province, in the form of the inter-governmental relations framework.
Breakdowns of cooperation were unacceptable, as they led to duplications of functions and spending, and undermined service delivery.
All her provincial ministers had been instructed to produce written reports within 10 days identifying issues and challenges that might exist in their departments with respect to intergovernmental cooperation and proposed solutions.
”There can be no coherent argument for go-it-alone strategies by any sphere of government,” she said. — Sapa