Vacant council seat filled in Bitou

PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Bitou's municipal council is looking a bit different after a special council meeting on 24 October when a new councillor was sworn in.

Tiphany Harmse now takes the Patriotic Alliance's PR seat in council.

The seat became vacant when former PA councillor Michele Botha stepped down to take one of Knysna Municipality's controversial new positions.

The appointments, which could cost ratepayers about R3-million a year, has come under fire and has been labeled by opposition parties as cadre deployment and wasteful expenditure.

Botha was appointed chief of staff in the office of new Knysna mayor, ANC councillor Aubrey Tsengwa, and resigned from the Bitou council on 30 September.

Harmse, who is formerly from Nelson Mandela Bay, was sworn in at a meeting at the Bitou council chambers on Monday 24 October.

Harmse was for a while the PA mayoral candidate in Nelson Mandela Bay for the 2021 local government elections, but was removed as candidate before the elections.

Director for Community Service, Melony Paulsen, was in charge of the official swearing in ceremony. Bitou Speaker Claude Terblanche congratulated and welcomed Harmse to the municipality.

PA councillor Tiphany Stacey Harmse (left), is sworn in by Bitou Municipality’s Director of Community Services, Melony Paulsen, at the Bitou Council Chamber. Photo: Chris van Gass