KNYSNA NEWS - Knysna Ward 10 councillor Peter Myers has lashed out at Western Cape local government minister Anton Bredell, accusing him of "shamefully" doing "the bidding of the anti-Myers faction within the DA".
The retort – by way of a media release on the Facebook page "Ward 10 Knysna - Peter Myers" – follows the announcement by the municipality on Wednesday last week that Myers would be suspended for one month without for pay for allegedly disclosing confidential information relating to a municipal job application in 2017.
The municipality's disciplinary committee found Myers guilty of the charges and proposed that he be suspended for three months.
After six months of deliberation, Bredell changed the suspension to one month but Myers slammed the decision reiterating he should never have been charged in the first place. He said he is poised to take legal advice on the issue.
"MEC Bredell made these findings despite a comprehensive submission from me conclusively showing that there was absolutely no evidence substantiating the charge against me or justifying any suspension," Myers said on Wednesday last week (24 July).
"The original complaint was shown to be materially untruthful and without any foundation and to have been motivated by internal DA faction fighting."
The original complaint had involved Myers "supposedly informing a third party that a Ms Julie Seton (aka Jefferies, aka Lopes) had applied for a director's position at the municipality despite this being public knowledge at the time", Myers explained in his retort, and calling the allegation "untrue and totally trivial".
He accused Bredell of "poor ethical standards'' and bias citing a previous case in which the MEC had given evidence against him but for which he was ultimately exonerated. He said Bredell should have "recused himself from considering this matter".
Myers said Bredell acted "irrationally and in a blatantly partisan and politically motivated way" and that he found it "regrettable that someone holding such a responsible position would act in such a reprehensible manner".
According to Myers, Bredell informed him that he should approach the Western Cape High Court should he wish to review Bredell's decision.
"It is noteworthy that MEC Bredell did not bother to give me any reasons for his decision," Meyers said.
He would thus be formally requesting reasons for the decision as well as access to "all the legal and other advice and documentation that he received from his officials and any other relevant parties in coming to his decision".
He would then take legal advice on all the options open to him once he has this information, Meyers said.
Bredell is now unable to respond to anything regarding the investigation, as Myers has approached the department seeking resolve. "The councillor involved has approached the department in relation to the matter," said James Brent-Styan, spokesperson to Bredell.
"The minister is not able to make any further comment at this stage – while the process remains ongoing – beyond the original comment that the minister applied his mind following an assessment done by the department."
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