KNYSNA NEWS - A statement from the DA’s federal executive committee (FedEx) was posted on 19 October on the DA Knysna Facebook page, about deputy mayor Peter Myers who is facing a vote of no confidence in him by the local caucus.

This move was sanctioned earlier this month and on 9 October, Myers was told of this move by provincial minister of economic opportunities Alan Winde.

Following this announcement, a story was in the issue of 12 October in the Knysna-Plett Herald with comment from Myers and opposition parties, but the local DA councilors were instructed not to comment.

The DA’s regional chairperson Jaco Londt explained what prompted the strongly worded statement on Facebook on 19 October.

“The Knysna DA caucus has been requested not to comment until a federal legal commission is finished with investigations into various claims and counterclaims. The comment was released on Facebook today because DA members are not allowed to comment, and unfortunately a campaign has been driven by a small group in Knysna putting out one side of the story,” explained Londt. He said the statement was to support local DA members who are not allowed to comment.

DA FedEx chair James Selfe issued the following statement on the DA’s Facebook page today and it is quoted verbatim and in full as is Peter Myers’ response below.

“Mr Myers is currently the Deputy Mayor of the Knysna Council. Over the period that he has been the Deputy Mayor, he has alienated his DA colleagues in the Council, virtually without exception. 

"He has made wild and unsubstantiated allegations against the Mayor, colleagues and officials which has destroyed their working relationship.

“For some considerable time, Mr Myers’s colleagues petitioned the leadership of the Party to address the breakdown in trust or to remove him as Deputy Mayor, citing his crass and bombastic manner, and his inability to operate as part of the team. 

"The leadership has sent a number of people to attempt to persuade Mr Myers to change the way he interacts with colleagues and the public, and to temper his language. 

"These have included Mr Jaco Londt MP, the Regional Chairperson, and Minister Alan Winde, the constituency head. These interventions were unsuccessful.

“Mr Myers persists in his contention that key people in the municipality are “corrupt”, and that he can prove this. 

"The Party has invited him, and continues to invite him, to produce such proof, and has suggested that if he has evidence of corruption he has a duty to refer the matter to the Police, and lay one or more charge(s) against one of more person(s). 

"He has thus far failed to do so, which has brought the accuracy and truthfulness of these allegations into question.

“The Provincial Executive Committee of the Party in the Western Cape, after investigating the matter, concluded that Mr Myers should step down as Deputy Mayor because of the breakdown in trust between him and the rest of the caucus, including the Mayor. 

"This was communicated to the Federal Executive, which gave its approval to the Knysna Caucus to support a motion of no-confidence in Mr Myers, should he not voluntarily resign as Deputy Mayor.

“It needs to be stressed that, in supporting a motion of no confidence, the Party is not suggesting that he has done anything wrong. What we are saying is that he is a bad fit in the position of Deputy Mayor, and that his colleagues cannot work with him while he holds that office.

When he resigns, or when a motion of no confidence is voted on, Mr Myers will remain a councillor, and will continue to serve the community.”

Councillor Myers was asked for comment by the Knysna-Plett Herald and has responded as follows (used verbatim):

“It is alleged that I have made “wild and unsubstantiated allegations against the Mayor, colleagues and officials” and that the leadership has sent a number of people to change the way I interact with colleagues and the public and to temper my language and that these “interventions were unsuccessful”. 

The statement goes onto to say that I have been invited to produce proof of my allegations of corruption to the Party, that I have a duty the refer the matter to the police and that I have thus far failed to do this.

“In order to be clear about the issues, my so called wild and unsubstantiated allegations include, the illegal funding to the amount of R4 million to an entity known as Knysna & Partners

• the continued unlawful employment of the previous director of community services who was illegally employed into that position in the first place
• the illegal funding of defamation actions (including reputational damage) by the municipality on behalf of the mayor and speaker who are bringing these actions in their personal capacities.
• the illegal use of the mayoral vehicle for private purposes
• the interference in the debt collection and credit control policy by the mayor to insist neighbours of hers be immediately reconnected to services after these services had been cut for non-payment in line with the municipal policies
• the questionable removal of reporting and oversight functions directly to the office of the mayor to reduce openness and accountability
• the many instances of maladministration in various departments throughout the municipality and other illegal activities which the political structures and the administration has refused to confront in any meaningful way.

“All of the above have been fully documented by me and I have sent numerous emails to the federal leader, provincial leaders and regional leaders including MEC Alan Winde and Jaco Londt MP detailing my concerns. 

"I have repeatedly asked for them to intervene and become serious about the DA’s commitment to open, accountable and transparent governance and to fighting maladministration and corruption. 

"It is therefore completely untrue to claim that I am making wild and unsubstantiated allegations and that the leadership has tried to do something to address this or even assess the veracity of my claims.

“Despite my pleas to numerous people throughout the leadership structures, (other than a few discussions with Alan Winde), no one in any of the leadership structures has bothered to sit down with me and look at the evidence or has even responded in any sort of detail to what I have been saying. 

"This includes Jaco Londt, and the federal and provincial leaders all of whom have never responded to my emailed allegations.

"It is therefore untrue to claim that the leadership has sent a number of people to frankly do anything – if they continue to maintain this then I would like to know, who was sent, when and what was discussed because it certainly did not involve me.

“Many of my fellow DA councillors have been supportive (sometimes openly in council meetings) of the illegal actions and the maladministration that I have been opposed to and they have found it difficult to be part of a team where I have been insisting that this state of affairs should not be allowed to go on. 

"They have tried to discredit me and the press release even uses words like “crass” and “bombastic” about me and that I should temper my language in some way which is not specified. 

"I will leave it to those who know me to decide whether these claims about me are remotely accurate or a reflection of my character and for those who don’t know me, all I can say is that this is a very distasteful attempt at character assassination.

“Prior to the Provincial Executive and Federal Executive Committee decisions to support the motion of no confidence in me, I was given no opportunity to address these committees or present my version of events to them despite undertakings in this regard having been given to me. 

"They have therefore made their decision to allow a motion of no confidence in me to go ahead, despite never having given me the opportunity to address them. 

"This is in complete disregard of the rules of natural justice which it is claimed is an important principle of the DA Federal Constitution.

“My allegations were referred to the DA’s Federal Legal Commission – FLC - for further investigation. To date I have had two meetings with the FLC, one lasting approximately 20 minutes and another a little over an hour. 

"At neither meetings was I given the opportunity to show any evidence or go into any of my allegations in any detail, despite me having a large amount of documentary evidence available. 

"A further meeting with the FLC has been arranged to take place in the near future and hopefully they will start to allow me to show my evidence at that meeting. 

"It is therefore untrue to claim that I have been invited to produce proof of my allegations to the Party and I have failed to do so. They have to date refused any serious engagement with me.

“I have prepared a dossier to support charges against the mayor, municipal manager and others of corruption, fraud and financial crimes under the Municipal Finance Act. 

"I have contacted the police and their investigation into my charges is now on-going. It is therefore yet again untrue to claim that I have failed to do this and that this in any way can be used to claim that it brings into question the accuracy or truthfulness of my allegations. 

"I sincerely hope that this is not an attempt to interfere with an on-going police investigation.

“There are however some accurate and true statements in the statement put out by the federal leaders office, albeit rather few and far between. It is accurate to state that there has been a breakdown in trust between me and the rest of the caucus and the reason for this is pretty obvious. 

"They have lost all trust in me being able to ignore the situation and to allow the maladministration and unlawfulness to continue. It is also true to say that I have done nothing wrong and I want to stress this.

“I wish to conclude by saying that I have always contributed to the business of the council to the best of my ability and in the interests of all of the residents of Knysna. I have achieved certain objectives and many are still a work in progress. By way of personal background, 

"I have a BCom degree and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, both from WITS university and an LLB degree from UNISA. I am a qualified chartered accountant (in England and Wales) and an admitted advocate of the High Court of South Africa. 

"I have had over 30 years’ experience in senior management functions in various companies and organisations including 10 years in investment banking in the City of London. 

"I have relevant knowledge experience and capacity to make a meaningful contribution to governing Knysna. 

"I have always worked well in teams and to claim that I am a bad fit as a deputy mayor is more a commentary on the sad lack of ability and commitment displayed by most of the rest of the DA caucus than on my abilities and capacity to contribute to a team that takes seriously a commitment to good governance in Knysna. 

"Finally, I believe that it is the public out there that must decide what is in their interests and insist that politicians take them seriously.”

The Knysna-Plett Herald will follow up on this story next week.

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