The GOOD Party has tabled an urgent motion in the George Municipality calling for immediate relief for backyard dwellers who are being threatened with fines, evictions, and homelessness due to unaffordable building plan compliance demands.
The GOOD Party is appalled, but not surprised, by Deputy Mayor Gary van Niekerk’s decision to leave South Africa on the eve of his criminal trial. This brazen act of evasion is just the latest chapter in a long and sordid story of impunity, enabled by a complicit and lethargic coalition.
The GOOD Party calls on the government to immediately remove all pre-qualification barriers to accessing the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant. In a society plagued by staggering unemployment, stagnant wages, and deepening inequality, social assistance must be designed to reach people quickly, not to exclude them through bureaucratic red tape.
The Acting Minister of Police is right to be concerned. There is ‘No proper plan in Cape Town to deal with gang violence’.
The “Rent-a-Cop” initiative by Stellenbosch Municipality doesn’t just reflect inequality, it reinforces it, formalising a system where safety is no longer a right, but a privilege reserved for those who can afford to pay.
The GOOD Party warmly welcomes today’s rational and just decision by the Western Cape High Court ordering the City of Cape Town to halt its planned cuts to the Dial-a-Ride service and immediately restore it to pre-announcement levels.
The nepotism claims reported in Paarl Post (04 Sept 2025), made by a Drakenstein municipal employee, are concerning but not surprising. GOOD raised similar concerns in June this year, when a whistleblower revealed irregularities in the hiring process for general worker posts in the Social Development Department.
On 4 September 2025, during a Human Settlements Portfolio Committee meeting, I was silenced mid-sentence while raising the urgent concerns of social housing tenants.
The GOOD Party Caucus in Stellenbosch has submitted an urgent appeal to the Municipality to address the appalling sanitation and unhygienic conditions in the Devon Valley Emergency Camp, an informal settlement under municipal jurisdiction.
Speech by Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament. NOTE TO EDITORS: This speech was delivered in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament during the Subject for discussion: Condemning the recent surge in shootings in the Western Cape and holding SAPS and Parole Board accountable for failing to protect citizens.