By Johnathan Paoli
Cosatu has welcomed the Constitutional Court’s landmark ruling affirming the unconstitutionality of the Municipal Systems Amendment Act, saying it marks a decisive victory in the long-standing legal battle led by the federation and its municipal affiliate, Samwu.
“This was a gross and shamefully unconstitutional assault on the right of freedom of political association and expression of not only municipal workers, but in fact all workers. If it had been allowed to stand, it would have been a gross undermining of the Constitution,” said Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) parliamentary coordinator Matthew Parks.
At the heart of the ruling is the court ‘s agreement with a 2023 Labour Court judgment, which found that a blanket ban on all municipal employees from holding office in a political party constituted a gross violation of the constitutional right to freedom of political association and expression.
The ruling, handed down on
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