KNYSNA - The DA in Knysna has slammed the opposition coalition for alleged cadre deployment and the allocation of "excessive" performance bonuses which the party believes will cost taxpayers about half a million rand per year.
The local ANC has however hit back, labelling issues within the municipality as an inheritance from the DA.
DA constituency head in Knysna Dion George says the party condemned what he described as the "mismanagement" of the Knysna Municipality by the ANC/COPE/ACDP/KUC coalition. "What was once a thriving municipality, is now in disarray as a result of cadre deployment and the allocation of excessive performance bonuses," George says.
He says the party is "appalled by the outcomes" of several items on the agenda of a special council meeting on 29 June.
"The ANC coalition arbitrarily appointed unqualified persons to the positions of additional members to the audit committee. Not all successful applicants were contacted for interviews and the candidates who were interviewed are ANC cadres who do not comply with the standards set out in the Audit Committee Charter."
According to George, the ANC and its partners also appointed valuation appeal board members who did not have the prescribed qualifications. "The Western Cape Minister for Local Government told the council that two of the members do not qualify for the position and made recommendations. The ANC and their coalition partners blatantly ignored these recommendations."
He says the council then considered the appointment of a deputy chairperson for the Knysna Municipal Planning Tribunal. "The ANC coalition wanted the internal environmental manager, Pam Booth, to be appointed, who does not have the necessary experience. But the matter went to a vote and the ruling coalition succeeded."
Another issue is the payment of performance bonuses. He says the party requested that performance bonuses to officials, who already earned more than or close to R1-million per year, be reconsidered.
"The ANC coalition rejected our request and awarded bonuses of 9% to relevant officials. This amounts to an additional expenditure of R500 000 of taxpayer money per year."
The ANC in Knysna however is hitting back, strongly condemning the allegations by the DA.
"The ANC-led coalition inherited a dysfunctional municipality from the DA,"says Knysna ANC chief whip Claudine Croutz. "It lacked leadership and had no sound systems in place. We are not shocked by their blame games and not taking any responsibility."
About the allegations regarding the appointment of unqualified people, Croutz calls it a"blatant attack on people of colour".
"The audit selection and recruitment committee consists of three councillors in its composition which is as follows: one ANC, one ACDP and one DA. There were eight candidates shortlisted and six came for interviews. During these interviews the DA representative was absent with no apology. Two of the candidates did not come for interviews. This was later clarified in a council meeting that they were phoned but never answered their phones; so five candidates were interviewed and four were appointed representing geographics (sic) of the municipality."
She claims that they did not deviate from the charter. "The only issue here is that the DA does not want transformation on these committees."
Addressing the issue about the tribunal, Croutz says the DA appointed the tribunal, not the ANC. "We then fought for a black person [employee] to be the deputy chair who later resigned. As the ANC we nominated Booth who is a member of the tribunal as deputy chair who was appointed by the same DA."
Croutz says the performance bonuses were part of the directors' contractual agreement. "We have not been paying them for the past two years. It cannot be fair that with all expenses that increase, we do not consider our directors. Our finances are starting to get a bit better."
Croutz also says that the members of the evaluation appeal board were appointed by the DA. "We fought for transformation. MEC Anton Bredell said two of the members of colour are not qualified, yet they are more qualified than the members he recommends, which are all white males. Once again we recommended a board that represents municipal geographics."(sic)
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