STATEMENT BY RICHARD HECTOR, GOOD COUNCILLOR FOR WARD 27, PACALTSDORP, GEORGE MUNICIPALITY
3 December 2020
GOOD LODGES COMPLAINT AGAINST THE DA EXECUTIVE MAYOR OF GEORGE MUNICIPALITY
Yesterday the George Municipal Council considered a proposal regarding senior managers of the Municipality.
The matter was deemed confidential in terms of the Rules of Order of the George Council and this prohibits that the matter be shared or discussed with any person other than those in an official capacity.
Several opposition parties walked out of the meeting but GOOD remained in the meeting in order to express our views on the proposal and to record our vote.
At the conclusion of the debate and the vote, and after the matter had been dealt with by the Council, I motivated that the Speaker move the item from the confidential agenda to the open agenda in the public interest and in the interest of transparency.
The Speaker refused my request to make the information available to the public, and the people of George, despite the fact that the proposals and the decision has an impact on the people of George.
The matter thus remains confidential and may not be shared outside of the closed confidential council meeting.
Subsequently, and in breach of the Council Rules relating to confidentiality and in defiance of the Speaker’s ruling on my request to make the matter publicly available, the DA Executive Mayor, Leon Van Wyk, issued a media statement on the matter in which he disclosed some of the confidential details.
The matter was then reported in several media publications including The George Herald and TimesLive.
Mayor Van Wyk has breached the rules of conduct and I have today lodged a formal complaint with the Speaker of the Council requesting an investigation and disciplinary proceedings.
GOOD will not allow one set of rules to apply to the opposition parties and another set to apply to the governing DA.
If the DA Mayor is able to communicate about the confidential matter debated by the Council then other parties who participated and voted on the matter should be able to do so also.
I have also once again called on the Speaker to move the matter to the open agenda so that the public can have access to the full story.
Ends…