GOOD press statement by Donavan Saptoe,
GOOD: Councillor George Municipality
30 March 2022
In a disappointing, yet unsurprising, move, the DA’s Mayor of George Municipality, Cllr van Wyk, has decided that the allegations made against senior officials do not warrant an investigation.
This comes after Cllr van Wyk callously dismissed our legitimate request to refer serious allegations relating to irregular appointments of senior managers to Council as he is required to by law.
Cllr van Wyk clearly needs to be reminded that he is not empowered to come to this determination of his own volition. Rather Council is empowered to decide whether an investigation should be instituted into the irregular appointments of senior managers we, as GOOD, raised last week.
The Executive Mayor’s reliance on rumour, personal attacks and wild conjecture are manifestly irrational and inconsistent with his oath of office to uphold law and order.
The law is clear. Section 5 of the Municipal Systems Act’s Regulations for Disciplinary Matters relating to senior managers demands that “any allegation of misconduct against a senior manager must be brought to the attention of the municipal council.”
As such, Executive Mayor van Wyk, is dutybound to table these allegations before Council by 05 April 2022 or be in breach of the law.
Specifically, these serious allegations of impropriety include, but are not limited to, the following:
That the Acting Municipal Manager, Ms Gratz, appears to have misled to Council when she answered questions about the appointment of two senior managers.
The Acting Municipal Manager appears to have colluded with the Director of Community Services, Mr Paulse, to conceal the irregular appointment of the two staff members, and she misled council about the true sequence of events.
At least one of the two employees is alleged to not meet the requirements for the positions that were subsequently created on the staff structure.
Mr Paulse has been a senior manager in a number of municipalities in the Western Cape and these two employees have been appointed to the staff structure wherever he is employed.
The DA vaunts its good governance practices and must give effect to that claim without further delay.
The Mayor’s failure to do so by 05 April 2022 will leave us no choice but to pursue other avenues to ensure the people of George aren’t made to foot the bill for dodgy appointments of “friends and family”.
Media enquiries:
Donavan Saptoe, GOOD: Councillor for George Municipality
Cell: 082 401 2935
Email: dsaptoe64@gmail.com
Samkelo Mgobozi, GOOD: Media Manager
Cell: 0792315977 (WhatsApp)/0829684021 (calls)
Email: samm@forgood.org.za