KNYSNA NEWS - The Knysna Ratepayers' Association (KRA) has denied allegations by former acting municipal manager Dr Michele Gratz of interference in certain municipal affairs.
In a statement on Friday 29 May, the KRA said they will not engage in speculations as to the reasons for the resignation of Gratz, chief financial officer (CFO) Mbulelo Memani and Ward 10 councillor Peter Myers.
“Our actions speak for themselves. We have pursued two initiatives in furtherance of our constitutional mandate, to promote a high standard of municipal service delivery and to strive to ensure that the administration of the municipality is composed of competent, honest and reliable officials who are appointed lawfully and promoted on merit; and to uncover tender irregularities, corruption and misuse of public property and to ensure that appropriate action is taken against municipal officials and councillors acting unlawfully,” read the statement.
'Cash crunch'
The organisation said in October 2019 it was discovered that Knysna Municipality was in the midst of a serious financial crisis, or “cash crunch”.“As a result, in February 2020 the municipal manager (MM) Dr Sithembele Vatala was suspended by council pending an investigation. We became aware that properties to a value exceeding R60 000 000, that had previously been disclosed as contingent assets, had inexplicably been omitted from our annual financial statements by the CFO. Vatala who is the accounting officer, signed off on those statements,” it said.
“The Auditor General queried the removal of those assets and was provided with false and/or misleading information regarding their status. We submitted a complaint to deputy mayor Aubrey Tsengwa against MM Vatala in connection with this matter, as well as in connection with a tender that should have been awarded to a local company, but was unlawfully awarded to a company from out of town that had tendered a price R3 000 000 higher than the local company. CFO Memane was also implicated in the second complaint,” the KRA said.
'CFO not investigated'
According to the KRA, council had charged Vatala in connection with their complaint, but it became apparent to them that the CFO was not being investigated. “On 21 May we therefore submitted our complaints against the CFO to Gratz and Tsengwa. Our first two complaints were identical to the complaint against suspended Vatala, and two additional complaints relating to tenders were added. On 27 May 2020, a day before the council meeting, we received a letter from Tsengwa advising us that they needed more information relating to our complaint and that it would not be discussed in council the following day. Although our complaint had been submitted in exactly the same format as our complaint against Vatala, Tsengwa requested a resolution, a signature and a date on the complaint,” said the KRA.
The association said at the council meeting on 28 May 2020, council was informed that their complaint would serve before the next council meeting, as long as it provided the requested information. “At the end of the meeting, Gratz, Memane and Myers all resigned,” the KRA stated.
Planning tribunal
The KRA also highlighted that on 14 May, council appointed a new municipal planning tribunal. “The tribunal hears all disputed development applications and the competence and integrity of the members are of considerable importance to Knysna’s residents and ratepayers. The report from Gratz was only published the day before the meeting. The report proposed the appointment of both the external and internal members, but no information concerning their knowledge or experience of land use planning was provided,” said the KRA.
They said they had requested an opportunity to make submissions to council regarding the proposed members, but never received a response to the request.
“We learned that all the members had been appointed during a council meeting that we could not follow because arrangements had not yet been made to permit members of the public to observe and listen to virtual council meetings in real time. Whilst we have no concerns about the external members who were appointed, we have no information about two of the internal members, and serious concerns about one of the internal members,” said the ratepayers' association.
They therefore formally requested reasons for the decision, the statement read, as well as access to information relating to the process that was carried out. “We further requested the municipality to agree to mediation once we had received the information and asked acting MM Gratz to refrain at this point from publishing the names of the members in the Government Gazette, in order to avoid fruitless and wasteful expenditure should the membership of the tribunal be altered following the mediation process,” the KRA said.
They added that they received a letter from Tsengwa stating that the complaints against Memani would be submitted to council as soon as the deputy mayor's office received a response to his letter dated 27 May 2020. “Tsengwa said he has already informed the office of the Speaker that they require a special council meeting to consider the same. He assured us that the complaint will receive the required attention,” the KRA said.
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