GEORGE NEWS -Councillor Leon Dorfling has no intention of going quietly after he was ousted as Eden mayor two weeks ago.

He has presented council and the acting municipal manager, Morné Hoogbaard, with a legal opinion and other letters questioning the legitimacy of decisions made during his absence due to illness.
The new mayor, advocate Faried Stemmet, was acting mayor during this time and, together with the mayoral committee, approved additional funds to cover the overspending on two recent projects.

More than R200 000 was allocated to cover expenses for the Camp Eden youth project whereas an extra R891 000 was approved for overspending on the World Corporate Golf Challenge at Fancourt and Oubaai in May.
Dorfling challenges whether the acting mayor and the mayco had the legal power to approve these additional funds.
The original approved budget for the Golf Challenge was R350 000 while the rest of the funds were going to come from sponsorships. However, these funds never materialised and Eden was left carry-ing the (bulk of the) can.
Hoogbaard and Eden spokesperson Kelvin Vollenhoven maintain that Dorfling was kept up to date with the finances of the Golf Challenge from the start. The officials produced a letter signed by Dorfling dated 15 March 2010, in which he asks provincial govern-ment for an additional R900 000 for the event.

The letter is addressed to minis-ter Alan Winde, MEC of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism. Dorfling writes: "We (Eden) have formed a partnership with Cape Town Routes Unlimited, who indicated they would sponsor the event to the tune of R300 000 ... due to the current international economic downturn, many sponsors have indicated that their budgets have been cut ... we are happy to confirm that SAA and PetroSA have indicated that they will be sponsoring us ... Your partnership in this event will greatly assist us in hosting this prestigious event at a world class level."

Eden speaker Stephen de Vries said in a press release that allegations made by Dorfling of fraud and corruption are far-fetched and ungrounded. "I can confirm that councillor Stemmet was properly appointed by councillor Dorfling himself by written letter at the time of his sick bed.

"One of the projects he has a problem with was located within the mayor’s office. It is regrettable that the donors did not come to the party, and this resulted in council having to step in. Despite this, both projects were very successful.
"I can confirm that council has approved both items as per legislation and as speaker I am satis-fied that the proper procedure was followed. If councillor Dorfling has any information about corruption, he should provide such information to the office of the municipal manager or the relevant authorities."

De Vries also confirmed that his office is investigating the appointment by Dorfling of a legal firm without following the required procedures.

Eden has signed a contract to host the Corporate Golf Challenge again in 2011 and 2012. Teams from 24 countries participated in the event this year and it received media exposure on a variety of television channels including SKY, NDTV in India and Golf Channel in South America. The anchor media partners were Time and Fortune magazines.

Article and photo: Ilse Schoonraad