Floyd Brink has been thrown a lifeline by the City of Johannesburg, which filed an application for leave to appeal a court finding that his appointment as city manager was unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid.

An appeal would effectively suspend the finding by Acting Judge Steven Budlender given in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday that the way in which the speaker had brought the motion to hire Brink in February was illegal.

The speaker, Colleen Makhubele, brought an "urgent and exceptional" report to the council on 22 February, which included a complaint by then acting city manager, Brink, about not being considered for the permanent job.

Matters before council are usually processed by a committee and vetted for legality before being tabled for a sitting. However, the speaker may allow urgent reports to be tabled within the council meeting.

But Budlender found that the matter was not urgent for reasons that included that Brink had filed his complaint on 16 November 2022 – three months before the resolution was tabled and adopted as a matter of great urgency.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) used this process as its basis for bringing the matter to court in May.

The judge gave the City two weeks to find an acting City manager and ordered that the respondents – the City, the council, city manager, mayor and speaker – pay the DA's costs.

On Wednesday, the City said there were a "number of legal grounds for concern in the High Court judgment, which the City believes an appeal court may decide upon differently".

This suspends the implementation of the judgment.

"The City believes it is in the interests of residents that the administrative capacity and stability of the City is defended and insulated from nefarious political interference.

"The consistent political onslaught and attempts to derail the City's ability to deliver services and improve governance at an administrative level must be frowned upon and acted against," the City stated.

On Tuesday, Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda said the City would not be "deterred nor distracted, even in this instance".

"In our attempts to insulate administrative responsibility from political bigotry and in line with our priority of good governance and stabilising the City of Johannesburg, we continue to expect and view these litigious actions with a dim view," Gwamanda added.