GEORGE NUUS - Nog 'n DA-raadslid van George-raad moet 'n maand se salaris opdok nadat hy skuldig bevind is aan 'n oortreding van die gedragskode vir raadslede.
Wyksraadslid Cecil Noble, wat ook 'n pos as burgemeesterskomiteelid vul, is deur 'n komitee van die raad ondersoek nadat dit aan die lig gekom het dat hy 'n opgehoopte elektrisiteitsrekening van meer as R38 000 het. Die komitee se aanbeveling aan die raad was 'n sanksie van 'n maand se salaris.
Burgemeesterskomiteelede van 'n graad 4-munisipaliteit (soos George) verdien sowat R55 000 per maand. Bo en behalwe die rekening wat Noble steeds maandeliks afbetaal is hy nou 'n maand se salaris kwyt. Die sanksie is tydens 'n raadsvergadering verlede Donderdag, 22 April, beslis.
Dít volg kort op die hakke van DA-raadslid Stag Cronjé wat skuldig bevind is aan 'n oortreding van die gedragskode vir raadslede en ook 'n sanksie van 'n maand se salaris ontvang het.
Cronjé is daarvan beskuldig dat hy nie sy belange in 'n beleggingskwessie rakende munisipale fondse verklaar het nie. Cronjé appelleer tans teen die uitkoms van die saak by Wes-Kaapse minister van plaaslike regering, Anton Bredell.
Die nasionale vervolgingsgesag het verlede week bevestig dat geen van die bewerings teen Cronjé gestaaf kan word nie. Die NPA het geen bewyse van enige kriminele oortreding gevind nie en gaan dus nie die saak vervolg nie. In 'n verklaring gistermiddag maak Cronjé dit duidelik dat hy van plan is om Brett Herron, sekretaris-generaal van die Good party, en Cameron Dugmore, ANC-leier in die provinsiale wetgewer, in die hof te ontmoet weens hul aantygings teen Cronjé.
Lees beide Cronjé en Herron se verklarings hieronder:
Blazing lies by GOOD’s Brett Herron and the ANC’s Cameron Dugmore. It’s time the Western Cape Legislature acts against these members ... Because, clearly, GOOD and the ANC won’t.
Wednesday, 28 April 2021, 14:00
No Embargo
The accusations against me about the George municipal funds invested with Old Mutual are patently false.
This was confirmed by NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila on April 26: None of the allegations in the docket can be substantiated, and there is no evidence of any criminal offence, and the NPA therefore declines to prosecute.
The accusations are real and damaging but the accusations are made up. And the accusations are libellous. The facts are ignored, and the fake news manipulated for political gain by people who cannot be trusted.
Voters already do not trust my accusers: GOOD Secretary General Brett Herron is the only GOOD member in the Western Cape Legislature. And GOOD has but a single representative in the George Council. Cameron Dugmore is the leader of the opposition ANC in the provincial legislature, kicked out of office in the Western Cape 12 years ago.
Western Cape voters clearly already have the measure of GOOD and the ANC, and of the people taking a lead in promising what voters know they dare not believe. Yet again Cameron and Brett are confirming that they, and also their parties cannot be trusted. They prove it by fish tales. They lie like tombstones.
It is high time that the Speaker act against these members covering the legislature in infamy and bringing the house into disrepute by their mendacity. Clearly, GOOD and the ANC have not the moral backbone to act.
The attacks look much like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza storming windmills they took for ferocious giants. Completely misguided, and rather dumb were Don and Sancho. The comparison is complete.
Here is the only fact I am prepared to share before I meet Cameron and Brett in court: I have documentary proof – evidence untainted by even a smidgen of doubt – that their wild accusations are false. That Cameron and Brett failed to discover the correct information, or, worse, that they ignored the facts, speak to their inability or their dishonesty, as confirmed by the NPA.
That senior politicians – senior party leaders – can do such sloppy research and rely on such specious information to make false public accusations would be quite beyond belief had more responsible functionaries than Cameron and Brett done so.
I can only thank Cameron and Brett for warning the voters of George and of the Western Cape not to trust the ANC and GOOD. Their sterling and timely service to voters is appreciated.
Statement from Brett Herron, Member of the Western Cape Legislature and GOOD Secretary-General on 8 April 2021
George Councillor who did Municipal business with his son found guilty but saved by his DA colleagues.
The DA’s executive councillor for finance in George, who transferred R350m of the town’s funds from one financial institution to another, earning his son more than R150 000 in commission, will not be fired as recommended by the Municipality’s Disciplinary Committee.
Nor will Councillor DL (Stag) Cronje step aside from his duties despite his scheme also being under investigation by both the Hawks and Public Protector.
Instead, in a pre-Easter sitting last Thursday, Cronje’s colleagues in the DA-led council quietly voted to save his job and dock him just a single month’s salary.
Considering that the councillor’s salary is less than his son earned in commission, despite the municipality’s finding of unlawful conduct the family has made an overall profit from its shady nepotistic scheme.
The DA preaches accountability and demands it from other parties. Yet it has repeatedly protected Cronje since 2017 when the unlawfulness was perpetrated.
Five years later, last Thursday, the George Council tabled the findings of the town’s DC, finding Cronje guilty of acting unlawfully and proposing that the council asks MEC Bredell to remove him from office.
The council accepted the DC’s report, but changed the sanction from Cronje’s removal to the docking of a month’s salary – a slap on the wrist.
If the DA doesn’t choose to hold its own accountable it would do well to explain how this case differs from that of the former President, his son and certain business interests – from whom it rightly insists on maximum accountability should they be found to have committed unlawful acts, as Cronje has.
If the DA has any integrity it will remove Cronje from the George Council without delay.
GOOD Leader Patricia De Lille lodged a complaint with the Public Protector on the Cronje scheme in February 2019. It has recently been reported that the Hawks are also investigating.
'n Vorige ondersoek deur Goussard Prokureurs, op versoek van die raad, het bevind dat ook Noble die gedragskode vir raadslede oortree het. Ingevolge hierdie kode mag die munisipale rekeninge van raadslede nie langer as drie maande agterstallig wees nie.
Volgens inligting kon daar nie genoegsaam bewys word dat Noble krag gesteel het deur self met die kragmeter te peuter nie, maar daar is bevind dat Noble wel onregmatig voordeel uit die situasie getrek het en dus die kode oortree het.
Noble het by navraag gesê hy glo steeds in sy eie onskuld en dat hy beslis teen die sanksie gaan appelleer. "Dit is kommerwekkend dat jou naam op die ou end van die dag bevlek word met hierdie beweringe. Dit is ook baie interessant dat die komitee wat die beweringe moes ondersoek nie 'n besluit kon neem ten opsigte van die sanksie nie, so die raad het toe besluit rondom die sanksie," het hy gesê.
'Ons bring jou die nuutste George, Tuinroete nuus'
