To mute, or unmute: That is the question

GEORGE NEWS - Barely 15 minutes into today’s George Council Meeting, Good councillors Donovan Saptoe and Richard Hector were removed from the proceedings. Speaker Sean Snyman took a no-nonsense attitude regarding order and discipline.

To ask for a point of order or clarity, council members had to type their request in a chat box before it was considered by the speaker. Microphones were muted otherwise, unless they were speaking on an item.

The decision to go about it in this way was apparently taken at a whips’ meeting before council commenced and was ruled by the speaker.

The ANC too objected against this method and one of their councillors was removed as well. PBI Councillor Marcelle Kleinhans also questioned the speaker’s ruling. Some councillors had trouble with the mute/unmute procedures; others said they don’t understand how to use the chat box.

Sounding like Darth Vader over the microphone due to headphone interference, Mayor Leon van Wyk was also muted for a few seconds. However, the problem was soon sorted out and he continued the tabling of the 2021/2022 adjustment budget, as well as the quarterly budget monitoring report for the third quarter, January to March 2022, without further hiccups.

Adjustment budget

George Municipality received an additional R4 250 000 municipal grant for an electrification programme, as well as an additional R26 597 000 in the form of a public transport network grant, both for the 2021/2022 financial year.

The third item relates to a transfer of R1-million from the Garden Route District Municipality which came through in March 2022 as a contribution towards the micro enterprise facilities in Pacaltsdorp that will allocate trading space to informal traders.

DA’s Dirk Wessels said the municipality is now on the receiving end of receiving additional grants. He said it has happened a few times in the past twelve months. “This speaks purely to the ability to deliver services for the communities.”

In his reply on the adjustment budget, ANC Councillor Thembinkosi Lento said they do not support the recommendation, adding that they are concerned about the absence of gunplast (plastic sheeting used to secure informal housing) and temporary structures on the adjustment budget.

PBI’s Virgill Gericke too expressed his concern, saying it is a disgrace that no funding has been allocated for emergency structures. He said we are entering the winter months and the poor are in great need of material to assist them through the year’s coldest season and with housing emergencies. “We have to soebat (plead) for our people,” he said.

Gericke also called on the mayor to sort out the public transport system. “There are only five years left of the 12-year contract. If we don’t sort out that public transport system, after the 12 years we may end up in a mess where people will not have transport. There will be violence in that industry and therefore I call on the ruling coalition to make haste, to intervene there on an urgent basis. If there is no intervention, the buses will end up on blocks, like in Port Elizabeth, and there will be no mobility for our people.”

In his response, Wessels said this adjustment budget concentrates on funding that is allocated for specific projects. He said Gericke is welcome to write a question regarding the gunplast etc which can be dealt with in another council meeting. “We have budgeted in the new financial year for the delivering of basic services and obviously that is of utmost importance.”

Quarterly budget

Van Wyk said he believes the municipality’s finances are very stable. “If we look at operating income and operating expenditure, we will notice that we are 1% ahead in terms of revenue and we are about 2% behind in terms of operating expenditure. That is a very sound position to be in.

With regards to our capital expenditure, we had a plan to date of R218-million, and we achieved just short of R216-million, so we are about 1% out over there. Naturally in this last quarter, we’ve got a fair amount of work to be done, well over R215-million, and I believe the administration will make all efforts there to ensure that that money is spent.

“If we look at our debtor’s collection over the nine-month period since July 2021 we will note that we have collected at 96,4%, which is a pretty good state of affairs. We trust that administration can increase that further, because every 1% on our collection rate represents an additional R16-million in cash flow.

“If we look at our monthly billings, the average for the nine months to date is R136-million, which is very satisfactory, and it reflects what appears to be a reasonable increase on 2021 and 2020. We entered Covid during March 2020 and we then saw a dipping of billings at that stage. There were billings of only about R90-million entering the system at that stage. And in March 2021 this figure was about R94-million. So, the current R136-million certainly represents a much higher level of business.”

Listen to the recording of the meeting on YouTube.

Speaker has his say

Speaker Sean Snyman provided George Herald with the following statement in response to Councillors Virgill Gericke's allegations about his handling of council meetings:

It is indeed a sad day when political parties resort to misleading the public by constantly sharing half truths about circumstances. It is no secret that there are constant attempts by a certain group of councillors to ride roughshod over council meetings and last Thursday's meeting was no different.

Contrary to the statement by the party above making accusations, I believe it is time that residents of George became aware of the Rules of Order which govern all meetings of Council.

These rules are public knowledge. The statements made are testimony to the fact that there are elements in Council that have no regard for discipline, order or the interest of the very people they claim to serve.

I categorically deny the statement which implies that any rules have been changed and once again the fact that I insist on unilateral discipline and order are frustrating sectors as they are no longer able to do as they please as the rules are being applied.

Councillors need to take responsibility for their actions and despite quoting the constitution, common law, and common sense, need to be applied and it can be stated that no councillor has been ejected from any meeting whilst discussing issues relating to service delivery, but rather because of a lack of adherence to the Rules of Order and acting in a way that is unbecoming of a councillor.

Unfortunately, the statement [referring to Gericke's statement] makes no mention of the facts and merely state allegations based on emotional circumstances.

With statements made in the last sentence, there are nuances of racial threats which are both irresponsible and may be a breach of the code of conduct.

As chairperson of Council, it is my duty to serve the interests of the residents of George by ensuring the Integrity of the council by making sure that council meetings are used to constructively debate on the issues on the agenda, without tarnishing the dignity of individuals in administration nor fellow councillors.

There are protocols that should be followed and unfortunately, the way parties are conducting themselves currently is nothing short of cheap electioneering and using the time and resources of the municipality to do [so], by disrupting meetings purposefully in order to make negatively charged comments for the purpose of political statements rather than concentrating on the business of the day.

Comment by Executive Mayor Leon Van Wyk:

Municipal legislation provides for Rules of Order to ensure that council meetings are conducted in an orderly fashion. This provides for debate on the items on the agenda and provides for "points of order" and "points of explanation". The expectation is therefore that there is respect and discipline within a council for the meeting to be conducted orderly. This level of respect and orderly conduct has not been present in recent meetings with deliberate attempts to disrupt the flow of the meeting with constant interruptions of debates taking place.

Speaker's function

The role of the speaker is enshrined in the Municipal Structures Act Chapter 3 Part 2 (SS36-41).

Functions of speakers

The speaker of a municipal council-

(a) presides at meetings of the council;

(b) performs the duties and exercises the powers delegated to the speaker in terms of

section 59 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act 32 of

2000); [Para. (b) amended by s. 14 (a) of Act 51 of 2002.]

(d) must maintain order during meetings;

(e) must ensure compliance in the council and council committees with the Code of Conduct set out in Schedule 1 to the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act 32 of 2000); and

[Para. (e) amended by s. 14 (b) of Act 51 of 2002.]

(f) must ensure that council meetings are conducted in accordance with the rules and orders of the council.

Speaker Sean Snyman