GOOD party members on the West Coast protested outside the Matzikama municipality offices yesterday opposing the appointment of fraud and corruption accused Ian Kenned as the municipality’s acting municipal manager.
Kenned was appointed to the position last week, following the resignation of Aldrick Hendricks recently.
Good party’s Sammy Claassen said they rejected the “reckless” appointment in the municipality.
“Our campaign against corruption and fraud gains momentum and we will not allow the ANC councillors to make irresponsible and reckless decisions that affect the Matzikama Municipality and taxpayers negatively. We will also not allow the recycling of controversial senior municipal officials implicated in fraud and corruption.
“Mr Ian Kenned’s appointment is unacceptable and we reject it in the strongest possible terms. Those implicated in fraud and corruption charges must step aside and should not be allowed into any managerial positions until a court of law has cleaned or pronounced their names or alleged crimes,” he said.
Claassen called for the municipality to review and reconsider the appointment and said protesters would be back next week should no action be taken.
DA West Region chairperson Koos Steyn this week also said they were opposing Kenned’s appointment, also describing the decision as “reckless”.
Provincial ANC convener Lerumo Kalako said the attacks on Kenned were smear campaigns linked to the upcoming local government elections.
“We are not moved by all these attacks. The Good party members doing this are disgruntled and ill-disciplined people who once belonged to the ANC, who were expelled by us and now they want to settle scores with certain individuals,” he said.
Kalako said Kenned’s case in the Stellenbosch municipality was struck off the roll.
Kenned could not be reached for comment by deadline.
In a statement recently, the municipality said they believed in Kenned’s expertise in addressing “corporate governance failure” in the municipality.
The municipality too did not respond to questions by deadline.
Cape Times