Knysna Mayor Matika accuses WC Local Govt MEC Bredell of politicking & interference

Knysna Mayor Thando Matika has accused Western Cape Local Government MEC Anton Bredell of politicking and interference.

The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) was in the town on Tuesday to consider a decision by the provincial government to dissolve the council and place the town under administration.

Bredell told the select committee on cooperative governance that Knysna was facing complete service delivery collapse, while its residents were being exposed to serious health risks from regular sewage spills.

But Matika said the problems of ailing infrastructure and poor future planning were not unique to the Garden Route town.

The select committee has heard from provincial government that Knysna’s business and civil society were holding the town together.

The municipality is currently governed by a coalition of the African National Congress (ANC), Patriotic Alliance (PA), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners (PBI), as one of the province’s 16 hung councils after the 2021 elections.

The council was originallyunder the control of a Democratic Alliance (DA) partnership with the Knysna Independent Movement.

MEC Anton Bredell said the town had a leadership and management problem.

"The conduct of the councillors, if you look at council meetings, you can describe it as a circus. People shouting at one another, and not talking and debating the issues and taking decisions in the best interests of the people they represent."

But Matika said that Bredell had excluded officials from oversight visits to the town, had applied double standards in challenging staff appointments, and residents had been encouraged by a DA councillor to submit complaints directly to him, rather than to the council.

"He's playing politics. Every decision we take in Knysna, he takes us to court or he’s challenging. He doesn’t play an oversight or assistant role."

Bredell has denied the move to dissolve the council, which is due to take effect this weekend, was a political ploy, saying he was acting in the interests of the residents.

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