GRDM meeting cancelled; caucus off to Cape Town

GEORGE NEWS - A Garden Route District Council special meeting, scheduled for this week, Tuesday 7 June, was cancelled "until further notice".

According to a memo to all involved, Mayor Memory Booysen needed to attend to a family emergency and would not be available for the rest of the week.

Meanwhile, the entire 17-person DA Caucus, upon request of GRDM Constituency Head and Interim Leader of the DA in the Western Cape, Tertuis Simmers, is off to Cape Town later this week.

The cancelled special council meeting would have been a continuation of the meeting on Friday 27 May, and included reports relating to the closed session of the agenda.

George Herald has it in good faith that at least one of the items relates to a discussion of Municipal Manager Monde Stratu's salary scale. Stratu's income during his five-year term has been a major point of discussion behind closed doors as allegations of over-payment has been made by a group called the Garden Route Corruption Busters.

Questioned 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, chief communications officer Herman 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.

Cape Town meeting

The entire DA Caucus will meet with Simmers in Cape Town. Asked about the visit, Simmers said the purpose of the meeting is to ensure effective DA oversight.

"The nature and content of the meeting is between me, as their constituency head, and the caucus," said Simmers.

He confirmed that Stratu will not join the visiting team. "I do not meet with officials, only with my DA caucus members about whom I have oversight."

Caucus leader Mayor Booysen is also attending the Cape Town meeting.

GRDM Constituency Head and Interim Leader of the DA in the Western Cape, Tertuis Simmers, has summoned the entire DA caucus of the district municipality to a meeting in Cape Town. Photos: Michelle Pienaar