The DA is in crisis and there’s the distinct possibility that they will lose Knysna in the 2016 Municipal Elections when 2 new wards change the playing field (and ICOSA and the EFF step in as players).

I’m not interested in political party rhetoric or who wins so long as they are more responsible, accountable and honest than the current losers who seem to act for anyone but us (that includes the DA, ANC & COPE who seem to be one party/corporate against us, the public).

Yes, you’re hearing a lot about politics from me this week but i consider this the best possible moment, so far, for Knysna DA constituents (those paying members) to get rid of a lot of purple apples in that blue barrel… and to establish a contract with future councillors wherein they sign guarantees to their election promises. Be reasonable voters with reasonable expectations of those you vote for…. and be prepared to enforce it because you are legally one-third of local government and, by law, the most important (the other two are the politicians and municipal employees).

If you want to stand a chance at winning Knysna in the 2016 Municipal Elections, you need to do something radically positive that will not only restore faith and pride but maybe set a precedent for other towns so that we make a better South Africa.

If you think big you’ll have more chance at being big. If you think small, you’re guaranteed to be small… or nothing at all.

You cannot dismiss the possibility that our country may become a full blown dictatorship or a battleground. Any sensible person lives with that fear. We have to do better! That means putting truth and enforced expectation before ANC vs DA nonsense (that divides us) and internal party struggles (the Knysna DA has been divided for years because politics was made more important than us).

Please put Knysna on the map and in our hearts by doing the right thing. Knysna has had so many municipal scandals (suspiciously unreported by national press). KNYSNA NEEDS A CLEAN START.

In return for your vote, get answers to all the questions that have been hanging like an effluence cloud over Knysna. You cannot trust those you’ve voted for unless they are prepared to deliver hard fact answers.

Don’t get caught up in this melodrama of defamation cases your leaders have flooded me with. They’re a distraction. They don’t want you to know the truth. These people in power do not considerable themselves answerable to you and me. Whether you like my methods or not, that’s what i’ve been trying to achieve – i want them put in place so that they serve us first. The first step will be for them to start answering our questions.

We mustn’t drown ourselves in peripheral bull. We need to look at what the main issues are. Consider what i’ve presented on Knysna Keep and Love Knysna: the fight to place our future, through the ISDF, in safer hands; to punish those who used Knysna Tourism and public funds as their private bank account; to damn those from office who put their office upgrades ahead of fixing our roads; to know who benefited from the R30-million debt write-off etc. There have been so many issues, granted monster growth because we let them get away with early things so that they grew in arrogance for themselves, distancing themselves from the thanks they should have given us for the jobs we gave them. It’s not a situation that should result in you being discontented but still voting from your bias or fear but rather an opportunity for you to angrily respond with, “NO MORE. THIS IS WHAT I WANT. FOR THE FIRST TIME, YOU ARE GOING TO LISTEN.”

Do not forget like we’ve irresponsibly done so many times before. Hold onto your anger over the holidays so that it motivates you to make a difference early next year when government offices re-open. Work on a detailed list of everything that is wrong so that you can submit it to provincial powers as a demand in return for your vote.You don’t have to vote for another party, just threaten (with sincerity) not to vote unless your demands are met.

Mike Hampton

The rot goes high up the political food chain. I’m realistic in that the top rot is unlikely reachable but i suggest you be careful who you submit your report to.

Skip Jaco Londt (he serves Cape Town, not us), Skip MEC Alan Winde (Knysna Tourism fiasco) and MEC Anton Bredell (ISDF fiasco). Focus on Helen Zille and whoever her critics are within the party. Don’t be prim and proper so that you’re demanding with a gag in your mouth and your hands behind your back. Be strong. Send it simultaneously to the media so that it’s treated with urgency. And if that’s somehow against you rules (if your rules aren’t democratic) then get someone to leak it. Show respect for truth, not constitutional ‘democrats’ that are anti-democracy.

This is your moment to get what you want and, overall, i’m sure it will be more of what we all need as opposed to the failure and damage we’ve got now.

What i’ve said will apply to many towns (such as Oudtshoorn and Plettenberg Bay) in the Western Cape. And, if you exchange the word “DA” with “ANC” or “COPE”, will amplify across South Africa.

Locally, in Knysna, my door is open to the DA. Your leadership is my enemy and the enemy of common sense. You are not my enemy but you will be your own enemy if you do not act swiftly. Don’t be biased, don’t be shy – getting information from all quarters should always be a prerogative. Ask me questions, the more difficult the better. I promise to disturb you with evidence and what is really going on… and in doing so you will make a better argument within your party so that it results in a better list of demands that benefits all no matter which political party/diversion/uselessness they currently support.

I have worked for free for years for our town. I have to hope that some of you recognise how difficult it has been, especially with all these dirty and dastard DA motivated cases that are trying to stop me shouting the truth. Realise that the goal is worth frustrating and angering those who resent change so that we look to reality rather than the past that will never return. Get it – it’s the past!

I want a better, safer home where i can imagine a future for myself, my father and the kids volunteers and i deal with at Love Knysna Projects.My hope is that no matter which area we live in or what colour we are, we all bleed the same towards that dream. Stop making us bleed with irresponsibility. Bleed, instead, with beautiful and courageous action.

Mike Hampton… yes, you call me Wicked Mike 🙂

PS1: Brenton is a beautiful suburb and everyone i’ve met (except politicians and their partners, especially those who sue me) have been lovely to me… but please realise that it isn’t representative for so small a suburb to have 3 DA councillors in our Council – Knysna must be representative of all!

PS2: Or simply elect independents you know who have never held office before and who agree to sign a pledge not to form an alliance with any party if elected. I can’t recall this town ever having the fortune of a real independent.