KNYSNA NEWS - Knysna Cope councillor Ricky van Aswegen was booted out as deputy mayor after a motion of no confidence against him succeeded during a special council meeting on Tuesday.

The motion was filed by ANC councillor Welcome Salaze on 31 May.

Salazi said the motivation behind the move was that Van Aswegen, in his position as deputy mayor, for the past six months had "undermined" mayor Mark Willemse's office and acted in a manner "not expected of a person holding his position".

"The situation has become untenable and cannot be further tolerated. It is expected of a person holding such a position to work as a united front with the executive mayor. The trust relationship has completely broken down and therefore it is in the interest of council that councillor Van Aswegen be removed from the position of executive deputy mayor," Salaze said when he filed the motion.

The motion was seconded by councillor Thando Matika.

On Tuesday, the motion succeeded with eight votes to three. Nine councillors abstained from voting. Proportional councillor Aubrey Tsengwa was the only candidate nominated and was voted in as deputy mayor unopposed.

It was not the first time Van Aswegen faced a motion of no confidence. Earlier this year, DA councillor Peter Myers filed a similar motion but it was unexpectedly withdrawn during a special council meeting on 18 March. Myers had initially submitted the motion to have Van Aswegen removed as deputy mayor, stating Van Aswegen had performed unsatisfactorily in that position and that "Van Aswegen is not prepared to work constructively with the DA-led government in Knysna".

However, Myers withdrew the motion after an instruction from the DA federal executive to do so.

Chris Gould of the Knysna Ratepayers Association (KRA) said Van Aswegen's removal as deputy mayor was no surprise. "It was clear that the ANC wanted him gone to make way for an ANC councillor. At the same time, the DA's robot caucus of seven, which had refused to vote Van Aswegen out a scant three months ago, had evidently since decided that his removal would dovetail nicely with their bosses' recent efforts to smear mayor Mark Willemse as an ANC mayor," Gould said.

He added this became clear when the vote came to replace Van Aswegen. "The ANC nominated their own Aubrey Tsengwa. And the DA's robot caucus sat on their hands, and nominated no one. This guaranteed that the ANC's Tsengwa would win unopposed, sticking the mayor with an ANC deputy, so that out-of-town DA bosses could continue their vendetta against him by now claiming: 'Look, he is an ANC mayor, even his deputy is ANC.' This, despite the fact that it was the DA caucus of seven who, by their inaction, guaranteed that the mayor's deputy would be ANC."

"Tsengwa's election also leaves onlookers wondering whether elements in the DA robot caucus of seven may not be conspiring with elements in the ANC to destabilise the town. Either way, it is becoming increasingly clear that Knysna needs more councillors who are not beholden to either the DA or the ANC, but only to this town's residents."The council has seen several changes over the past few weeks.

Not only did Willemse survive a motion of no confidence by his own DA caucus members, but DA councillor Georlene Wolmarans was kicked out as Speaker following a successful ANC-led motion of no confidence. Before that, former mayor Eleanore Bouw-Spies left her position within the municipality when she was promoted to parliament.

When the DA federal executive was contacted for comment on the KRA's response, chairman James Selfe said, "As the vote did not involve a member of the DA, the federal executive was not involved at all."

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