Gordon April

Gordon April, the ANC Mayor of Oudtshoorn, is in trouble. The titanic fight for control of the town, between the ANC and the DA, seems to be almost over, the latter the expected victor.

Dirty deeds on both sides, and a year of court struggles at the taxpayers’ expense, has seriously hampered the integrity of the town. The DA’s immoralities (which includes an attempt to sacrifice one of their own councillors for telling the truth) may soon be forgotten if they are proven correct in their assertions of massive maladministration and corruption (from the information this writer has received, Gordon April will be facing a ton of difficult questions).

But Gordon April may have bigger woes on the way. Even his own party and supporters will be upset with him if the information I’ve received anonymously is verified. It is allegedly a SAPS record of his convictions between 1996 and 2007 for:

• Selling liqueur illegally
• Assault with the attention to do serious harm
• Contempt of a court order
• Fraud

I use the word “allegedly” with emphasis because no one will respond to this document, let alone verify it.

Three attempts to contact Gordon April and Speaker John Stoffels have been ignored. As this is a sensitive matter, I moved my deadline each time. That the message has been received and not responded to will be considered suspicious by some.

Stoffels was contacted because he’s responsible for enforcing the councillors code of conduct. If it’s proven that April has a criminal record, Stoffels (and the unresponsive ANC provincial committee I also contacted) will have to consider what laws have been broken by April for failing to inform them of those alleged previous convictions before taking office. I’m talking about a possible code of ethics, not a criminal one because the standards are set low in 119(4) of the Municipal Systems Act which says that one may serve as a Councillor so long as he/she has not received a sentence of more than 12 months without the option of a fine.

I contacted Premier Helen Zille’s office and the Western Cape Government with this matter, queries and request for info and other relevant laws. The only (and entirely inadequate) response i got was from Enocent Nemuramba, the Public Liaison Officer in the DA’s Federal Leaders’ Office, who said that “The legitimacy of the current Oudtshoorn Municipality administration is a matter that is before the courts. The details will be made public once the reviewing court has made its decision.”

‘Inadequate’ is too kind a word for the DA not only ignoring such an important topic but for answering something i never asked. It’s akin to asking what colour the sky is and someone answering “cheese”. More disturbing is that he would have been told to say that as the matter was handled by his superiors. I can only imagine that rather than taking the lead, they are waiting to see where the chips fall.

Whether true or not, there are undoubtedly other players involved in this story. In politics, service is near extinct so the giver of information likely has an ulterior motive. To publish this alone places me in a precarious position but to not publish it would be wrong.

Gordon April was given the opportunity to respond but chose not to. Hopefully, he or someone else will have to now, for the sake of truth and public interest.

Click on the document and zoom for better readability.