STATEMENT BY BRETT HERRON, GOOD MEMBER OF THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL PARLIAMENT AND SECRETARY GENERAL
16 December 2020
DA TAKES CADRE DEPLOYMENT TO NEW LEVELS IN SOUTHERN CAPE – NATIONAL COGTA MINISTER ASKED TO INTERVENE
The GOOD Party has asked Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to conduct an investigation into the legality of cynical cadre deployment by the DA in Southern Cape municipalities.
Alternatively, GOOD has asked the national minister to instruct the MEC for Local Government in the Western Cape to investigate the revolving door approach to the appointment of senior managers and report back to her in terms of Section 106 (4) (a) of the Municipal Systems Act.
GOOD has deliberately gone over the head of the MEC for Local Government, Anton Bredell, because it has no confidence that he can be impartial or independent:
• Bredell has a long history of meddling in Garden Route municipalities for DA political purposes.
• The DA does not permit municipalities it controls to appoint senior manager without party authorisation. This means that Bredell, the party’s former Provincial Chair and now the Deputy Federal Chairperson, is complicit in the appointments.
On Friday 11 December 2020 the George Council appointed an Acting Municipal Manager, Michelle Gratz, as well as an Acting Director for Community Services, Allen Paulse, with effect from 1 January 2021.
These positions were vacant after the George Council voted to give the previous Municipal Manager and Director golden handshakes totalling more than R2 million in exchange for their leaving.
Gratz was recently the Acting Municipal Manager in Knysna before resigning in a huff in the middle of a council meeting.
Paulse was until recently the Municipal Manager in Oudtshoorn. He resigned less than 2 months ago after disciplinary action was instituted against him for serious misconduct, including financial misconduct. Paulse was the subject of a investigation by Webber Wentzel attorneys, who recommended the council pursue disciplinary action and criminal charges.
Instead, the DA has rewarded him with a new well-paid position.
The regulations that govern the appointment of senior managers in municipalities require applicants to disclose any disciplinary actions, pending or finalised, instituted by current or former employer. It is unclear whether Paulse made any disclosures. This should form part of the investigation.
The situation in the Garden Route District is dire.
There are criminal charges pending investigation against political office bearers and senior officials in George, Knysna and Oudtshoorn. But they are not being investigated with any urgency.
The DA, which invented the term “cadre deployment” as a slur to describe the ANC’s keep-it-in-the-family approach to government, appears to have perfected the art, itself.
Ends…