The legal action against the City of Johannesburg’s controversial CCTV by-law is on hold following its withdrawal by the council last week.

The SA Property Owners Association (Sapoa), AfriForum and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) had all filed Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg challenges to the CCTV by-law.

Sapoa chief executive Neil Gopal said the association is yet to receive a formal response from the municipality.

AfriForum’s Jacques Broodryk said the organisation was still waiting for the municipality to repeal the by-law.

“We welcome the fact that they have written to us and told us they are planning on repealing the by-law but until that has been officially done our position will not change regarding court action,” he said.

Outa said it would not proceed with its legal action but will seek costs, formalised as an order of the court, as the city chose to fight instead of heeding calls to repeal earlier.

The organisation’s executive director of accountability Advocate Stefanie Fick, said repealing the by-law was ‘a victory for common sense as it was never about public safety but was about squeezing law-abiding residents for more money’.

The by-law was approved for promulgation by the City of Johannesburg’s council in February this year in order to regulate surveillance camera operations within its jurisdiction and registration of both commercial and non-commercial privately-owned CCTV cameras.

The city noted that prior to the publication of the by-law, review applications in the high court seeking to declare the by-law inconsistent with the Constitution and invalid were received from the Outa, Sapoa and AfriForum.

According to the city, the applications were based on procedural and substantive irregularities in its promulgation and public participation process.

The municipality has now resolved to withdraw the resolution made for passing the CCTV by-law and will publish the resolution in the provincial gazette and in at least one newspaper circulating within its jurisdiction including the full text of the resolution, explanation of the withdrawal, and a 30-day comment period.

In addition, it will embark on public participation and accept written comments for 30 days and conduct a hybrid consultation (in-person and virtual sessions) to ensure broad stakeholder engagement.

It will convene the relevant committee to review all submissions and prepare a summary report of comments and recommend any amendments to the withdrawal procedure.

The municipality will table a second resolution after the comment period to confirm withdrawal, taking into account stakeholder input and then officially repeal the CCTV by-law upon adoption.

loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za

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