News24 reports that the South Gauteng High Court has dismissed a bid by the City of Johannesburg to appeal a damning ruling that declared the appointment of the city manager, Floyd Brink, unlawful.

The ruling comes after Acting Judge Steven Budlender on 7 November ordered that Brink's appointment be reversed as processes leading up to his appointment in February were unlawful. This prompted the Joburg council to lodge an application for leave to appeal against the ruling. However on Monday, Budlender dismissed the application for leave to appeal with costs saying it bore no prospects of success “and there is no other compelling reason for leave to appeal to be granted". At the time of Budlender's initial ruling, which gave the City of Johannesburg two weeks to replace Brink, the mayor, Kabelo Gwamanda, said the City would not be "deterred nor distracted, even in this instance". The Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku commented: "The appointment of the City manager was yet another example of a corrupt regime trying to deploy yet another one of their cadres.” Meantime, the DA is calling for the council's dissolution because it believes none of the leaders in the current coalition structure can fix the issues in the City. The motion to dissolve the council will be heard at the council sitting this week.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Alex Patrick at News24

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page