KNYSNA NEWS - Knysna Speaker Mncedisi Skosana's immediate removal by Western Cape Local Government Minister Anton Bredell is to be legally challenged.
ANC Western Cape leader Khalid Sayed said Bredell's ruling to remove Skosana as speaker was "interference in the intergovernmental sense".
The ANC has noted Bredell's letter about Skosana's removal and does not agree with the rationale Bredell has applied.
Sayed said Skosana "must appeal this and will appeal this" and the ANC will only comment after the legal processes have been concluded.
Misconduct
Bredell's ruling to remove Skosana for misconduct was contained in an email sent to Skosana's legal representative, Nandi Bulabula, on Friday 23 May, where Bredell highlighted the seriousness of the infringement.
Skosana has also been ordered to repay 20% of a month's allowances that he received as councillor and speaker.
At the same time, Bredell said the resignations of former mayor Aubrey Tsengwa and deputy mayor Alberto Marbi as councillors and the findings against them "may not
be enforced".
Monitoring
However, based on Bredell's oversight responsibilities, the governance issues at Knysna Municipality will remain under his scrutiny.
His spokesperson, Wouter Kriel, said Bredell is monitoring the municipality very closely, "including all the service delivery challenges, to determine the next steps to be considered".
Kriel said the municipal manager has a duty to urgently call a council meeting and preside over the election of a new speaker by means of nomination and election.
Knysna communications manager Christopher Bezuidenhout said this will be discussed at the ordinary council meeting tomorrow, 30 May.
Bredell's action follows recommendations contained in a committee investigation into the conduct of councillors concluded in September last year, following a Western Cape High Court decision that found political appointments in Knysna to be illegal.
False evidence
Bredell noted that the investigation found Skosana not only gave false evidence under oath, but made no attempt to correct the falsities in his affidavit in the main high court application.
The investigation found that "his actions in giving false evidence under oath and persisting with the falsities before another court, constituted misconduct of the most serious nature, and that such persistent dishonesty warrants removal from office".
Tireless fight
Knysna DA constituency head Ryan Smith welcomed Skosana's dismissal.
He said the dismissal "comes as a result of the DA Knysna caucus' tireless multi-year fight to combat maladministration and corruption in our town".
This included alerting the provincial department of local government to severe governance irregularities and misconduct under the ANC/PA/EFF/PBI coalition.
The issues raised by the DA include:
- The appointments of political staff - which the DA successfully challenged and reversed in a court of law
- Illegal payments to these staff despite a legal opinion warning against it
- Breaches of the code of conduct for councillors.
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