Campbell Rejects Municipality’s Answers to Parliament #1
My petition to Parliament regarding corruption in Knysna’s government was met with resistance by Knysna Municipality and the Democratic Alliance. Whereas my submission was filled with facts, their response was to either dodge answering or supply false information.
I’ve already exposed the lies they told regarding the Knysna Tourism scandal.
Relating to the ISDF, the plan for Knysna’s future, Susan Campbell clearly shows that Municipal Manager Grant Easton and the Knysna Democratic Alliance team that accompanied him (Mayor Georlene Wolmarans and Deputy Mayor Esme Edge) misled Parliament.
This first part concerns whether the Western Cape government’s investigation into the ISDF was ongoing or finished. It’s a particularly important point considering that the DA used the “ongoing” version to get a delay from Parliament. That happened despite the investigation report having been completed and obtained through the Public Protector.
In my opinion, heads need to roll…
The Knysna Municipality/DA presentation said:
“With regards to the submission made by Ms Campbell on behalf of the petitioner [Mike Hampton], relating to the investigation by the MEC for Local Government [Anton Bredell], we submit that the matter is ongoing. The Knysna Municipality, by agreement with the Western Cape Provincial Government, responded to their letter dated 24 November 2014, received on the 1st of April 2015.”
Susan Campbell responded with:
This statement is factually incorrect. The letter dated 24 November 2014 was responded to by the Knysna Municipality in December 2014. The original letter contained the irrational conclusion that the deficiencies in the tender process had not affected the outcome of the tender.
Susan Campbell
The letter that was sent in 2015 was identical but the paragraph containing the irrational conclusion had been removed. KM then submitted a new response in May 2015. The municipal response contradicted the December 2014 response in a number of material respects.
The statement is made that the investigation by the MEC for Local Government is ongoing and that the matter is yet to be concluded. The conclusion to the Knysna Municipality response to the MEC [Bredell] paints a different picture.
Far from indicating that the matter is ongoing, the letter signed on behalf of the Mayor by the Deputy Mayor advises the MEC that the findings of the Western Cape Provincial Government are inaccurate and incorrect and that she is certain that after consideration of the municipal response “that this matter will now be closed”.
It is noteworthy that the Municipality advised the MEC that the full report had not been received.
The extract from the response [by Wolmarans and signed by Edge] is included hereunder:
All my attempts to obtain the full report from Knysna Municipality and the MEC were in vain. I approached the Public Protector for assistance. In November 2015 I obtained the full report from the Public Protector. I delivered copies to the Mayor and all Councillors.
On 10 December 2015, the Mayor issued a media release relating to the ISDF investigation.
The following extract from the media release in which the Mayor indicates that they consider the ISDF matter to be closed contradicts the statement that the KM considers the matter to be ongoing.
Mayor Wolmarans:
“The letter from the Western Cape Provincial Government, my letter in response and all 95 pages of proof contradicting the letter’s findings, were distributed to members of the media on Monday 7 December.
We now consider this matter closed and look forward to working with the residents of Knysna on an ISDF that serves all residents of Knysna.“
Read Part 2 of ‘Campbell Rejects Municipality’s Answers to Parliament: Objections & Legal Action’
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