The Council chamber was fat with the public. The one day they’re guaranteed to turn up, dance and ululate is on inauguration day. I wish that would happen everytime.

It was so full and noisy that i couldn’t get in the room.

As expected (i composed most of this blog before hearing the result), the following positions were announced in favour of the Democratic Alliance (DA):

The new Executive Mayor for Knysna is Eleanore Bouw-Spies.
The new Deputy Mayor is Peter Meyers.
The new Speaker is ex-Mayor, Georlene Wolmarans.

As Knysna suffers a hung council, who would go into coalition with the DA was by far the biggest question. Jaco Londt, the DA’s Eastern Region Manager, had announced to the press that it was to be Velile Waxa, an independent. However, on my Facebook page there was argument that it was to be the Knysna Unity Congress (KUC).

At the inauguration there was no official announcement but it was notable that 12 councillors, through a secret ballot, voted for Wolmarans as Speaker. That’s a whopping 12 out of 21. That’s 3 more than the 9 the DA has.

It’s obvious that the ANC voted against it.

More interesting is that 3 of the 4 smaller parties voted for Wolmarans. Only 1 out of the independent Waxa, the KUC, ACDP and COPE didn’t. Could that have been COPE?

In context, democracy doesn’t exist but kudos to the DA for the tactical maneuver.

I left early but will edit this blog so that you later know who our representatives to Eden District are.

View the full list of Knysna’s 21 councillors.