KNYSNA - The Knysna municipal council plans to respond to Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell with a Hollywood-like "bring it on" after he threatened to take legal action against the municipality for extending the Acting Chief Financial Officer (ACFO) Jacques Carstens' contract up to August this year.

In a special council meeting last week, Mayor Elrick van Aswegen read a letter he received from Bredell telling the municipality to change its decision to extend Carstens' contract. 

Carstens was first appointed as CFO for the period 2 November 2020 to January 2021. Bredell opposed the extension of the appointment from January to August in a letter to Council dated 29 January 2021, advising the municipality that by the time of Carstens' appointment, he would have reached the cut-off age of 65.

"I am not in a position to support the appointment of Carstens as per the council resolution," Bredell said in his letter. He gave Council 14 days to respond. ''Should they fail to provide response within the [specified] time, I will seek legal assistance to review and set aside their decision," he said. 

According to Bredell, the municipality admitted to the legal risk involved by Carstens' appointment in a letter to him on 6 January.

Presenting a draft response to Bredell in the council meeting last week, Van Aswegen said that after receiving legal advice, the decision was made to sign Carstens on until the end of August against Bredell's suggestion.

"We advised that Carstens will remain as the ACFO for the contract period until August. Any legal action will be vigorously defended as it is in the best interests of the people of Knysna whom we have been elected to serve," he said. He praised Carstens for bringing stability and steering the finance department to the right direction.

Support
Deputy Mayor Aubrey Tsengwa also said they don't want to lose Carstens. "Carstens is doing a great job and Bredell is not assisting us. If Bredell feels that he needs to go to court, we will meet him in court," he said.

ANC Councillor Claudine Croutz asked why it was not a problem when they appointed Carstens for the first three months last year. "If it was illegal, we should have received a letter from Province the first time we appointed Carstens. The MEC is playing politics and not taking the interests of the people of Knysna into account," she said.

Acting Municipal Manager Dawie Adonis said Council has an option to take the matter to Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to request a waiver.

DA Councillor Michelle Wasserman said that it would be terrible to lose Carstens, but although he is doing a great job and they were lucky to have him, the threat of legal action is serious and if the matter does go to court it should not be taken lightly. ''We need to check if we are covered legally in order to go forward," she said.

After a 15-minute break to allow the DA to caucus, Wasserman supported the decision, on condition that, in the response to Bredell, the mayor states that when the decision was taken to appoint Carstens, Council was not aware of the age problem or the correspondence between the mayor and Bredell until last week. She advised Council that an application for a waiver to Minister Nkosazana Zuma will resolve the problem.

Minister's role
Department of Local Government spokesperson Rowena van Wyk said the role of the minister responsible for local government in the province regarding the appointment of senior managers at municipalities, is to assess compliance to the applicable legal framework.

"Knysna Municipality informed the Minister of an extension to the ACFO's appointment, the assessment process identified that the incumbent had already reached the retirement age of 65 at the time of his appointment as acting Chief Financial Officer at the Municipality on 29 October 2020. 

"In terms of Regulation 41(1) of the Regulations on Appointment and Conditions of Employment of Senior Managers [GNR. 21 published under GG. 27245, dated 17 January 2014] it is not permissible for a municipality to appoint a person, who is not yet in the employ of the municipality, to act in a senior manager position, where such a person has already reached the retirement age of 65," she said.

She said the minister has written to the municipality, requesting that it should "advise which steps it will take to ensure that the incumbent voluntarily and by mutual agreement vacates the post or approach a court to review and set aside its decision to appointment the incumbent as ACFO".

Bitou MM's reappointment illegal

'We bring you the latest Knysna, Garden Route news'