DEAR Editor,-
I refer to the correspondence between Simon April and Bevis Fairbrother about the alleged hidden agenda of the Herald. Mr April states that he is the Senior Manager Mayorality and Communications at Hibiscus Coast Municipality. If Mr April is in fact the chairman of the ANC branch in this area and if he reports directly to the municipal manager, his occupation of this position may well be unlawful.
The Amended Municipal Systems Act states that there is a limitation of political rights of municipal managers and managers directly accountable to municipal managers and that they may not hold political office in a political party, whether in a permanent, temporary, or acting capacity.
Elsewhere in the same act, political office is defined as the position of chairman, deputy chairman, secretary, deputy secretary or treasurer of the party nationally, or in any province, region, or other area, in which the party operates.
I find it ‘very fascinating’ and am ‘more intrigued’ by the comment that the news items in the Herald indicates a vendetta against the municipality. These reports are factually correct and supported by uncontested photographs. Perhaps he prefers to read the lapdog rag ‘The New Age’ which is distributed free by state agencies, as well as Ugu District Council on a daily basis. Perhaps he should read that papers of the Independent Group, including ‘The Mercury’ (now actually owned by ANC sycophant Iqbal Surve) have recorded in great detail and banner headlines, the misfortunes and tribulations of Jacob Zuma, as well as his abject grovelling at the highest court in the land.
It may be that Mr April is facing a state similar to the one which the speaker of parliament Balake Mbete faces. It is uncertain whether her day job is Speaker of the House or National Chairman of the ANC? He cannot simultaneously be a senior manager and spokesman for the ANC-dominated Hibiscus Coast Municipality and the chairman of a branch of the ANC as well.
DAVE SNASHALL
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