GOOD Statement by Sandra Dickson,
GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor
26 JULY 2026
The Democratic Alliance must explain why it was permitted to use Cape Town’s official Council Chamber for an internal party-political gathering while the City’s elected Council continues to conduct its formal meetings online.
Video footage from Saturday, 25 July 2026, shows the DA occupying the Council Chamber in the Podium Block of the Cape Town Civic Centre for what appeared to be an organisational party meeting.
Yet the next formal meeting of the City Council, scheduled for Thursday, 30 July 2026, will again be held online.
This creates an extraordinary contradiction: the governing party apparently enjoys physical access to the Council Chamber for its own internal activities, while opposition councillors and the democratic institution of Council are kept out of it.
The Council Chamber is not the DA’s private conference facility. It is the official meeting place of Cape Town’s elected Council and belongs to the people of Cape Town.
GOOD demands that the City disclose:
– The precise nature and purpose of the gathering;
– Whether the DA was charged any venue-hire fee;
– Whether it paid for security, cleaning, staff, electricity, technical support or other municipal resources; and
– Why the Council Chamber is considered suitable and available for a DA gathering, but apparently not for a formal meeting of the full City Council.
The Council Chamber belongs to Cape Town’s democracy- not to the Democratic Alliance.
Media Enquiries: media@forgood.org.za