Dear Members,
This morning at the Bitou Special Council Meeting, votes of no confidence against the Mayor and Deputy Mayor were passed.
The new line-up:
- Mayor is Councillor Claude Terblanche with the Plett Democratic Congress party from New Horizons.
- Deputy mayor is Councillor Noksie Kolwapi with the Ikwazi Political Movement from Kwanokuthula.
- Speaker is ANC Councillor Sandile Gcabayi from Kwano.
- Chief Whip is ANC Councillor Mangxaba
- MPAC Chairman is ANC Councillor Seti.
- Ward 2 councillor continues to be Dave Swart.
The Plett Ratepayers have had brief discussions with the PDC to better understand their decision to shift allegiances. As an apolitical and neutral body, we wanted to hear specifically their thoughts around future governance of our town.
It is early days and too soon to make judgments, however, there is a willingness and sense of urgency by the PDC to engage in open and constructive dialogue, and a commitment to community-led decision making and the need to build skills and competency across the administration. Time will tell whether their actions and achievements support their statements and we will get clarity on how this four-party coalition will work in the interests of Bitou.
Our key concerns remain focused on the administration and the extent to which political agendas impact the day to day operations of running our town. As many of you will recall, our focus was shifting to the critical areas of infrastructure. This is an area of significant concern as we are well behind our capital investment plans and this disruption is likely to delay implementation of much needed projects in water, sewerage and waste.
It has been a tough week for Plett with a lot of unnecessary personal attacks that have further divided our communities. Now that the political posturing is over, let’s hope they get stuck in and get some work done. There is hope that the new leadership will be able to build on the successes of Dave Swart’s leadership. They should not expect any honeymoon period.
We remain committed to our oversight role and will be relentless in our efforts to raising the bar of performance and efficient use of our rates and taxes.
Kind regards,
Steve Pattinson
