Tourism Members Need to Demand Answers!

Did Knysna Tourism pay their ex-CEO, Shaun van Eck, R270 000 to leave? Was it a cover-up?

I know that some of you will probably have gotten tired of this story but i hope that you understand that i’ve had to dig deep into myself to keep going even though there have been continuous explosions in the Knysna Tourism fiasco. I’m all too aware that Knysna’s bad government wins battles by exhausting the will of complainants. Worse is that Helen Zille and Alan Winde were aware of the impending catastrophe and did nothing about it which makes me wonder if the holy appearance of the DA is more important than justice and serving the voter. The ANC is guilty too, in particular local Chief Whip and Tourism Board director, Stephen de Vries, who hasn’t responded to many messages. Silence is a crime because it hampers honesty and justice.

I’ve been fighting for the truth for 2 years, 5 months, 1 week and 3 days. That is not suppose to happen in a democracy.

Again, they’ve refused to answer my latest questions which were posted at www.knysnakeep.org/disturbing-situation-at-knysna-tourism.

Greg Vogt, the head of the Knysna Tourism Board, told me in conversation that the main reason why the Tourism Board never pursued the court case was because it would have cost too much even if they won it and that the Board wanted to save their members the expense. Knowing now the enormous amount Shaun van Eck was allegedly paid (and that he was apparently battling to pay his own court costs), it would suggest that was a lie as logic dictates another reason. After all, why pay the ex-CEO so much money if he’s already been found guilty of 4 charges of gross misconduct, each a dismissable offence? Why not finish the CCMA process so that the hundreds of more thousands they’d already spent on their own legal fees, paid for by Tourism members and the taxpayer, were not wasted.

Did the Tourism Board realise that they may lose the case and that attention would shift onto them? Knysna Tourism was already bankrupt yet the Tourism Board had no problem spending another half a million of taxpayer’s cash on the cover-up? And then had to borrow R500 000 from the Municipality to cover their share of getting Oyster Festival 2013 on the way.

There has always been more afoot! Knysna Tourism and Knysna Municipality have deliberately covered up what happened at Knysna Tourism. Why have they risked such criminal action?

Could it be that the Tourism Board were seeking to shift attention away from their own guilt? The rules of Knysna Tourism are extremely clear i.e. they are culpable for the maladministration of Knysna Tourism. I will share them with you, in another post, soon.

If the rules of governance were enforced by membership, this would detrimentally affect Lauren Waring (Municipal Manager), DA and ANC members (Michelle Wasserman, Esme Edge, Georlene Wolmarans, Stephen de Vries), and many Board members, present and past, such as Greg Vogt, Mark Dixon, Nan Raturat. It would also cast a stain on businesses such as Featherbed, Villa Castollini and the Sedgefield Arms which have given Board members their current credentials. And don’t forget that people as high up as Helen Zille and as local as the Knysna Business Chamber, were warned as well but instead deliberately allowed the situation to deteriate.

If you are a Tourism member who didn’t demanded transparency, then you must share guilt too. Sticking your head in the sand allowed the maladministration to continue until it crashed into the financial tragedy that has affected all of us living in our tourist-based economy. It’s not too late to demand truth. If you are a tourism member, and know others, use my articles to generate questions aimed at the Tourism Board. They work for you. You do not work for them!

I will provide MORE REVELATIONS and education as to the workings of Tourism over the course of the next week.  Dig deep with me, please. We are losing our town to people with hidden agendas. Transparency is worth fighting for because the quality of our lives in Knysna matters!

Read ‘Protecting Their Tourism Arses Means Screwing You’.