George Municipality Using Virtual Platform To Avoid Scrutiny And Accountability

GOOD statement by Brett Herron,
GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Parliament

07 September 2022

The GOOD Party has demanded that the DA-led George Municipality stops meeting virtually and schedules future Council meetings at the Council Chambers or an alternative venue accessible to the public.

GOOD’s legal team sent a letter to George’s Municipal Manager today, challenging the lawfulness of continuing to use the virtual platform to avoid scrutiny and accountability. The party vowed to take further action should the municipality continue the procedural abuse.

This comes after the George Council adopted new Rules of Order, which are not in line with the Constitution and the subordinate Acts of Parliament, including the Systems Act.

Despite the end of the national state of disaster on 4 April 2022, the George Municipality has continued to hold Council meetings virtually, which both limits public access and scrutiny, and curbs meaningful and robust participation by all councillors.

The Municipality’s claims that the Council Chambers are too small for Council meetings and that there is no economically feasible alternative don’t pass Constitutional muster.

Its argument that the public does have access to the meetings, through recordings or joining online, presumes all members of the public have computers, smart-phones and airtime.

This approach, effectively affording access to relatively privileged people only, breeds suspicion and distrust in legislative proceedings.

There are also a number of practical drawbacks in terms of the participation by councillors, with technical difficulties and limitations around raising points of order posing serious challenges.

Not all councillors have access to environments suitable to holding online meetings, creating an environment of inequality in the virtual meting room.

To make matters worse, the Speaker is accused of displaying a gross lack of impartiality and objectivity when engaging with councillors by abruptly muting their microphones instead of following necessary procedures. 


If extraordinary circumstances justify a departure from the general rules of public meetings, necessitating a virtual meeting, GOOD informed the Municipal Manager:

-such meeting should be streamed live, with all speakers visible to the public;

-notices are issued prior to the meeting, together with a link, to enable members of the public to access the meetings;

-all contents of “chatboxes” are visible to members of the public and to all councillors;

-the Speaker complies with the Rules of Order in respect of discipline; and

-where possible, Councillors are allowed to raise Points of Order by raising their hands, whereafter, when acknowledged they may state the rule and point in a manner that can be observed by the public.

Furthermore, the Rules of Order should be amended where it contravenes the Systems Act and the Constitution.

Should the Municipality and the Speaker persist with the breaches referred to in our letter, we shall take further steps as may be necessary to enforce our rights and the rights of our constituents.

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