The Constitutional Court has dismissed an application by the Democratic Alliance (DA) for leave to appeal a decision by the Western Cape High Court to declare the Transport and Related Matters Amendment Bill unconstitutional and invalid.
The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral), one of six respondents, noted in a statement this evening that the official opposition's application was dismissed with costs. The agency's spokesman Vusi Mona says it will send the DA a demand for payment of costs.
"The Constitutional Court has considered this application for leave to appeal. It has concluded that the application should be dismissed as it is not in the interests of justice to hear it as this stage," the court's order on the matter read, according to the agency's statement.
The basis of the DA's argument was that amendments to the Bill were unconstitutional and invalid because they had not been passed according to what it deemed to be proper procedure, which would be with input from the provinces, said Sanral.
The DA questioned the labelling of the Bill, which was tagged as a section 75 Bill - an ordinary Bill not affecting provinces - rather than a section 76 Bill, which does affect provinces. "We welcome the Constitutional Court's decision," added Mona.
"It is clear that in crafting this Act the legislators followed the correct process. It has always been our view that the Act was labelled correctly. The decision by the court to dismiss with costs speaks to the fact that the DA's suit was frivolous and unnecessary."
Ian Ollis, the DA's shadow minister of transport, was not immediately available to comment.
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