Tag: judge

It was in the interests of justice for finality to be reached in the Tshwane street name saga, a High Court in Pretoria judge said on Thursday.

Judge Bill Prinsloo dismissed the Tshwane Municipality’s application for leave to appeal an interim order, granted in April, interdicting the city from removing old street names and ordering it to re-install old signs which have already been removed.

The order was granted after an urgent application by civil rights group AfriForum pending the outcome of its application to set aside Tshwane’s 2012 resolution to change the “offensive” names of 25 streets.

Prinsloo ruled that his findings on the urgency of the application and the interim interdict he granted were not appealable.

He said the interim order did not amount to a final or definitive finding regarding the rights of any of the parties, and did not interfere with the executive function of the municipality.

There was no chance that another court would come to a different conclusion, he said.

Referring to an Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) case in which the National Treasury successfully appealed against an interim order stopping e-tolling, Prinsloo said the present case was a far cry from the perceived financial consequences in the Outa case.

“In my view, the interim relief does not have an immediate and substantial effect, including serious, immediate and ongoing harm.

“It only perpetuated the status quo involving the retention of the old names under the new names.

“The names have probably been in use for more than a century, are widely known, quite harmless and [their retention is] sure to avoid confusion,” he said.

Prinsloo said the balance of convenience favoured AfriForum, which sought to protect cultural rights, and which stood to be prejudiced if the status quo was not maintained. There was no harm or prejudice whatsoever for the municipality.

He said the R2.6 million it would cost to restore the old names was because of the city’s own conduct. It had had no justifiable reason to remove them at a time when a review application was pending.

The order also did not interfere with executive function, because the new names, which were installed in March 2011, had remained where they were pending the review application.

Prinsloo said an appeal against the interim order could take longer to finalise than the review application, and could delay it for a long time, rendering the proceedings moot.

Such a state of affairs could not be tolerated and was not in the interest of justice, he said.

AfriForum’s Kallie Kriel welcomed the ruling, but said it was not the end of its struggle for the city to recognise the rights of cultural groups.

Tshwane still had a few days left before the court’s deadline to restore the road signs, but if it failed to do so AfriForum would consider appropriate steps, he said.

He hoped the review would be heard before the end of the year or early next year. – Sapa