GEORGE NEWS - Councillors attending the most recent council meeting of the Garden Route District Municipality on Friday 27 May, as well as those who joined the live stream of events on the municipality's YouTube channel, were witness to an apology by Mayor Memory Booysen for using the word 'incriminate' in a previous meeting.
Booysen used this word when ANC Cllr Claudia Lichaba asked during the council meeting on 26 April why an item on the gratuity funds had not been included in the day's agenda.
In response, he said, "I am not comfortable dealing with that matter since it's been part of the investigation. So when that has been dealt with as well, because I do not want to incriminate myself (verbatim)."
The matter in question is the policy on employees leaving council service (also referred to as the gratuity policy) that was unanimously approved by the council on 22 June 2021.
There was an earlier request for further discussion in council on certain aspects relating to the policy.
Gratuity payments that were made to the municipal manager, Monde Stratu, and to former political office staff members in the previous term, form part of allegations of maladministration, corruption, fraud and/or serious malpractice at the GRDM that MEC Anton Bredell has questioned.
On a request for feedback on the matter, GRDM spokesperson Herman Pieters said Wolmarans is waiting for the outcome of the objective assessment.
In response to the mayor's apology, PBI leader Virgill Gericke said the apology is a strategy to absolve the MM or influence the outcome of an item that will be dealing with the allegations against the MM. He said when he was falsely accused of being dishonest when receiving an over-payment in salary, he stood alone.
"Nobody apologised on my behalf," said Gericke.
PBI leader Virgill Gericke
'Simply an inquiry'
Pieters said the reason why Booysen apologised for using the word "incriminate", was because there was no investigation underway - it was simply an inquiry.
"Mayor Booysen also explained that using the word 'incriminate' in legal terms, creates a perception that Mr Monde Stratu [MM] did something illegal and that there was something a person wanted to hide. However, to imply this was not his intent at all," said Pieters.
"By using the word incriminate, Mayor Booysen inadvertently caused unreasonable discourse in the media about MM Stratu, and he regrets mistakenly using the word. The GRDM speaker, Alderlady Wolmarans, also recently apologised to Mr Stratu for the mishap and for discussing a confidential item in public."
Confidential item
One of the items discussed by Council last Friday as a confidential item is the matter of alleged overpayment of Stratu during his five-year term.
Asked whether GRDM can produce the waivers that would have been requested to push the MM's salary scale above the normal threshold of a district municipality, Pieters said the item was confidential and councillors first need to apply their minds before any details of the confidential item can be made public.
George Herald learned from a trusted source that when the debate got heated, Booysen abruptly asked for an adjournment. Consequently the matter has not been concluded and the debate will continue at the next council meeting.
On a question to GRDM whether this item refers to one of the seven alleged irregularities on which Bredell requested more information, Pieters said the allegations contained in the objective assessment by Bredell are not for public consumption at this stage.
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