Cape Town – The public protector is investigating complaints into the DA’s process of suspending George municipal manager Trevor Botha.
Botha was suspended last month after a forensic investigation into alleged financial misconduct was initiated by Local Government MEC Anton Bredell.
The Western Cape High Court, however, last week ordered that Botha be reinstated with immediate effect, and that the municipality pay the costs.
The Good party, the ANC and the SACP have since lodged complaints with Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s office over the process followed by the DA.
Mkhwebane’s spokesperson, Oupa Segalwe, said they were probing the matter.
“The PP is looking into the matter, the investigation is still in its early stages. The PP has engaged the complaint to confirm the issues and has yet to communicate with the municipality, but that is on the cards,” he said.
Good party secretary-general Brett Herron said he sent a “dossier of evidence” to the PP’s office,and travelled to Pretoria recently to meet with investigators.
Herron said he received information that DA leaders were compromised and could not conduct an investigation, nor take action, impartially.
“Part of my request to the protector is an investigation and finding on the process conducted by the MEC for Local Government to prepare the so-called forensic report. That investigation produced the report that the DA in George relied on to suspend Botha.
“It is outrageous that the people of George are caught up in a battle that is entirely of the DA’s doing and that they are paying for the DA’s battles.
“The DA and those who voted for
the unlawful suspension should be held liable for the fruitless and wasteful expenditure, not the innocent residents of George,” said Herron.
ANC Western Cape spokesperson Dennis Cruywagen said the party had asked “the PP as well as Cogta to investigate George Municipality”.
The secretary of the SACP in the Southern Cape, Langa Langa, said the high court judgment “once again justifies our call to have the municipality forensically investigated”.
“We strongly believe that there are a lot more scandals to be uncovered by such an investigation and call on the national Department of Co-operative Governance to speedily look into this conundrum and bring sanity to this municipality,” said Langa.
Bredell’s spokesperson, James-Brent Styan, said: “We’ll make our report available for the investigation.”
DA chief whip Marlene Barnardt said she had not been made aware of the investigation.
“(I) will only be able to provide a comment once I have,” she said.