2019 has been another year of DA failure. Like our country’s broken education system, the DA keeps getting pushed to the next grade despite being morally and democratically illiterate. The system ensures that it can only look more stupid as time passes.

The DA keeps company with Mawande Makhala, the literally illiterate Senior Clerk at Knysna Municipality who was one of the three men found guilty for the assassination of Councillor Victor Molosi. Makhala, who can’t read, was a municipal official from 2005 to 2019.

That’s easier to swallow than the DA’s crimes because, at least, Makhala is in jail. The DA will still be in Knysna, fucking us up, because they’re protected by the Hawks, Office of the Public Protector, the Human Rights Commission etc. Ours is a nation of taking political sides. Until we stop that, until our institutions find integrity, we’ll not succeed in the bigger picture.

But it’s the smaller picture I care about more…

Knysna may only be one crack in our broken South Africa but special for being a place where some of us citizens have fought back, even having the occasional victory against corruption. We’ve survived many municipal managers, directors and politicians. They may not be punished but they were kicked out of our town. We stopped the ISDF which would have controlled us for 30 years, and been replicated wherever you live under the DA. And 3 assassins are in jail (for now).

Despite reasons to celebrate, there’s no smile in me. Truth is my obsession. I remain alone and under threat, that elephant balancing on the house of cards. My status will continue as I refuse to join a political faction. My future is dark so I’m accepting that which I cannot change. I”m going to embrace it, and learn that darkness the best I can.

I’ve pre-scheduled jokes and philosophies on Facebook that’ll last you until the end of December. But I hope to be silent until I announce that I’m going to court or jail for fighting corrupt politicians. If I can’t arrange that safely, as I’ve been trying to do for months, then I’ll simply hand myself over early next year. If jailed, I’ll return to hunger strike and try force those blue bastards and bitches onto the stand as hostile witnesses.

I end 2019 motivated but tired. It has been another year without meeting a good person willing to stand against evil. Instead, it’s always factions serving themselves by pointing out the evil of others. I refuse to accept people not giving up more for what they claim to believe in. Disappointment is my biggest emotion. I drag it around with me wherever I go and during whatever I do.

Nevertheless, I’m going to leave Knysna Politics Exposed (KPE) to sum up the year for you. KPE is infamous for being anonymous but is obviously in the faction supporting embattled DA councillors, Mark Willemse and Peter Myers. I may not agree with taking sides, and definitely won’t give Helen Zille a blowjob, but KPE shares inside information with the Public.

Information is power. Keep filling your head with our bigger than little town. Make your own mind up. Know the real DA.

KNYSNA POLITICS – A WRAP FOR 2019

This year has been a turbulent one in terms of Knysna politics – mayoral position up in the air, the governing party, the DA, claiming to be the opposition and leaving the people of Knysna in the lurch, by-elections, the rise of independent parties etc.

In the period leading up to the local general elections in May there was relative stability in the Knysna Council with mayor Mark Willemse of the DA firmly in control.

There was consensus and cooperation both within the ruling DA and also on a cross party basis. Helen Zille, who at that time was the DA’s political Head for Knysna was doing sterling work amongst the DA councillors to ensure that the focus was on proper governance and service delivery and this was evidenced by progress on the ground.

Dion George

Following the elections, Zille disappeared from the scene and was replaced by Dion George as the DA’s political head.

This move proved to be disastrous for the DA in Knysna as Dion George soon began to display an ineptitude for basic politics that was truly astounding.

He managed to ensure in a small period of time that the DA lost the speaker position to the ANC and lost the deputy mayor election to the ANC and instructed the DA to become the opposition.

It takes a special kind of ineptitude to allow one’s own political party with an in-built majority on council to hand the levers of power over to the minority opposition.

The resultant lack of governance and weak oversight is what the DA has bequeathed to Knysna – it seems one should be careful what one wishes (votes?) for.

However the signs are promising that sections of the wider electorate are beginning to see the wood for the trees.

An independent party – Knysna Independent Movement “KIM” was formed a few weeks before the Ward 5 by-election and managed to achieve an amazing 70% share of the vote in two of the voting districts “VD’s” in the ward. KIM’s vote share reduced the DA in these VD’s from almost 100% to only 30% share of the vote.

The DA’s only response through Mr George was to congratulate itself – but then again who said the DA actually listens to voters.

The next by-election to come around was the one in Ward 11 at the beginning of December. This by-election occurred because the sitting DA councillor could not stomach anymore the internal disputes over the mayoral position and the loss of direction in the DA. The DA candidate was chosen by an internal DA selection panel, which prominently featured Rowan Spies, the person who with his and his wife’s (Eleanore Bouw-Spies the ex-mayor) rather questionable history had done more than most to destroy the internal structures of the DA in Knysna – and guess who the candidate was – Rowan Spies’ aunt. As an aside the DA candidate was until very recently a COPE member and is rumoured to dance to Van Aswegan’s tune – the Spies/Van Aswegan show just seems to roll on, undaunted with Van Aswegan sinking his claws deeper and deeper into the DA.

The ward 11 by-election turned into a low turnout affair and despite COPE not fielding a candidate (despite getting 30% of the vote in 2016) and the COPE councillor, Van Aswegan enthusiastically endorsing the DA candidate.

Indeed to all intents and purposes the DA and COPE have merged in Knysna and this should have resulted in the DA getting around 75% of the vote – however it only managed a measly 40%. Although this was enough to win the seat it was lower than the combined ANC/EFF vote showing that voters in this ward are also not too enthusiastic about the DA.

In the meantime the ANC and its Deputy Mayor (and current acting mayor) Cllr Tswenga have formed a new mayoral committee consisting almost wholly of ANC councillors and appear to be almost amused at the stupidity of the DA and delighted at their heightened profile courtesy of the DA.

However they are rather wisely more or less sitting on their hands awaiting the outcome of Mayor Willemse’s court action against the DA.

So as the year draws to a close and the DA continues to show the middle finger to the residents of Knysna despite its dismal by-election showings, it seems quite content to allow the situation to drift and deteriorate in order to try and advance the personal political ambitions of George, Wasserman, Spies, Van Aswegan and their ilk.

On a positive note, Knysna politics is also fracturing with residents losing patience with the main parties, which augers well for the rise of KIM and other local parties and participants focussed solely on the interests of Knysna.

In the short term, we can only hope that sanity will ultimately prevail, Willemse is successful in his legal challenge, good governance and oversight will once again become the focus, and the DA’s Mr George finds himself another constituency to go and mess up.

You can comment beneath KPE’s Facebook post.

[Mike: Mayor Mark Willemse’s case was again postponed, ensuring his run around the financial drain continues. maybe that’s their goal. We’ll have to wait until 30 January 2020 to find out what happens next.]