The Johannesburg High Court Judge Stuart Wilson has found that the City of Johannesburg’s practice to give the Mayor 10 bodyguards, the Speaker eight, and Members of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) five was unconstitutional, invalid, and ordered the removal of bodyguards in six weeks.
The application was filled by the Democratic Alliance (DA).
In October, the party called on the city to revisit its VIP protection policy, saying it is irrational, unlawful and unconstitutional.
The city approved the policy earlier this year and is currently allocating over R3 million per month for VIP protection, which includes approximately 60 bodyguards and 40 vehicles.
The city is financially strained. The city's revised budget, which was cut from R83 billion to R76 billion due to decreased revenue, has affected service delivery.
According to Wilson, the office bearers were not entitled to exist in a security bubble, abstracted from the day-to-day concerns of the general public.
He added that the move was subject to qualification if there was a genuine threat to the safety of a particular public office bearer or class of public office bearers.
“The Act and the ministerial determinations recognise this. A municipal councillor is entitled to an enhanced security allowance where SAPS determines that there is a threat to their security that cannot be met by the default levels of the provision set out in the ministerial determinations,” he said.
Additionally, according to the Ministerial Directive dated October 1, 2024, a local council member may only be granted additional personal protection once the council has conducted a thorough assessment of the presence of a particular security danger.
The council must also decide that offering this kind of protection is both financially feasible and warranted given the threat.
The court suspended the Executive Mayor’s allocation of ten inspectors and the following JMPD vehicles: a BMW 3 Series, a BMW X5, a Toyota Rav 4, a VW Polo, a Toyota Hilux, and a Lexus, and the Speaker’s allocation of eight inspectors and the following JMPD vehicles: a BMW 3 Series, a BMW X3, a Toyota Rav4, a VW Polo and a Toyota Corolla.
These are suspended until noon on February 14, 2025.
The court stated that any interested person may, at any time before this suspension expires, apply to Judge Wilson to extend the period of the suspension, having adduced facts showing that to do otherwise would result in imminent harm.
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