Municipality accused of violating constitution

KNYSNA NEWS - The chairperson of the select committee on petitions and executive undertakings of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Setlamorago Thobejane, expressed his displeasure at the absence of the Knysna municipality at the presentation of a petition by civil activists Mike Hampton and Susan Campbell, regarding alleged maladministration and financial irregularities against the municipality.

In a press release Temba Gubula, of Parliamentary communication services for the committee, wrote, "The Committee expressed its displeasure at the absence of the Knysna municipality which happens to be a critical player in the matter, but the committee said it would not hesitate to use constitutional provisions available at its disposal to ensure that this did not recur and that this matter is put to rest."

Thobejane told the Knysna-Plett Herald that the committee were deprived through the non-attendance of the municipality. "The non-attendance is a violation of the Parliamentary constitution. They (the municipality) had to be there because an invite from Parliament is as good as a command to attend. The municipality may think they had good reasons not to listen to the complaints and that they are innocent, but they (the municipality) had to come and explain their reasons to the committee."

Thobejane accused the municipality of being in contempt. "They had no excuse not to be there. Their non-attendance results in dragging the process of the investigation out."

He even went so far as to say that the committee may have to summons the municipal officials and councillors to attend and if they do not adhere, that they will be arrested and brought to NCOP by the police. "The municipality turned the beauty (opportunity to solve the problem) into something ugly."

"Parliament is striving to build a better democracy for South Africa and the country should be a better place for all to live in, but the municipality's non-attendance was not in line with the process."

Thobejane said an investigation will be launched on the following complaints:

1. Alleged irregular funding of Knysna Tourism with taxpayers’ money;

2. The alleged illegal tendering of the integrated strategic development framework (ISDF) for Knysna to a company which had not scored the highest points and is headed by a local property developer;

3. An alleged illegal appointment of a municipal manager and the irregularities resulting from his appointment; and

4. Claims of unconstitutional blocking of Hampton’s emails by the municipality.

Campbell praises committee for transparent hearing

"The hearing was conducted in an open and transparent fashion and it was noteworthy that provincial treasury sent their top officials to attend the hearing."

This is how community activist Susan Campbell described the listing of a petition of alleged maladministration and financial irregularities against Knysna municipality before the Parliamentary select committee on petitions and executive undertakings on Wednesday, February 10.

"In all my dealings with officials from provincial treasury, I have always been impressed by their diligence and professionalism and their willingness to resolve complaints to the best of their ability. Knysna Municipality on the other hand, by declining the invitation, lost a golden opportunity to respond to the complaints against them and have wasted taxpayers' money, as another meeting will have to be convened to allow them to respond to the allegations."

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ARTICLE: CHRISTO VERMAAK, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD NEWS EDITOR

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