DEAR Editor,-
The code of conduct for councillors falls under the aegis of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000. Under breaches of code, a municipal council may investigate and make a finding on any alleged breach of a provision of the code. Or a special committee of councillors can be established to investigate and make a finding on any alleged breach of this code and take appropriate recommendations to the full council.
If the council or a special committee finds that a councillor has breached a provision of the code, the council may:
1 Issue a formal warning to the councillor;
2 Reprimand the councillor;
3 Request the MEC for local government in the province to suspend the councillor for a period;
4 Fine the councillor, and;
5 Request the MEC to remove the councillor from office.
Any councillor who has been fined may, within 14 days of having been notified of the decision of council, appeal to the MEC for local government (in writing), setting out the reasons on which the appeal is raised. The MEC for local government may, after having considered the appeal confirm, set aside or vary the decision of the council and inform the councillor and the council of the outcome of the appeal.
DA councillor Peter Naude was subjected to this process on trumped-up charges when crucial evidence was deliberately omitted in the framing of charges and in the evidence submitted to the council committee, which sat in judgement, presided over by the municipal manager, who is not a councillor at all.
In her letter to the council, the MEC, after considering Cllr Naude’s appeal, absolved him completely of all guilt and further pointed out that the municipal manager had erred by law in chairing the disciplinary hearing.
Much to embarrassment of the ANC and the municipal manager, the letter from the MEC was tabled at the meeting of the Hibiscus Coast Council on June 24, as required by the systems act.
In a shameful display of contempt for the rule of law, the council meeting was reportedly disturbed by the majority of ANC councillors who would not allow the official reply from the ANC-appointed MEC exonerating Cllr Naude of all guilt, to be dealt with as scheduled on the agenda of the meeting. They reportedly claimed that the council needed to take legal advice on the matter before it reappeared on the agenda list.
I can claim no legal knowledge at all, but I do not think you have to be a lawyer to understand the act, which states explicitly that the MEC has the absolute prerogative to set aside the finding of a special committee of councillors. If my layman’s reading of the code of conduct is correct, there might well be fruitless and wasteful expenditure involved if council goes to law in this matter.
D SNASHALL
