Sir
The letter from Patricia de Lille, the Mayor
of Cape Town (M&G 20 Nov through her spokesperson) - in response to the article on the Strong bungalow debacle
in Bakoven - clearly articulates the Mayor's disregard for due process and her (and
her senior cabal’s) disconnect with the communities of Cape Town.
What Mayor de Lille does not share with your
readers is the fact that, on her
instruction, the City entered into litigation with various affected
neighbours and the CBRRA, against the clear advice of her legal department in
order to defend a flawed and incorrect decision made by the Good Hope
Subcouncil.
All of this is contained in the court papers
and the City-commissioned KPMG forensic report.
If this was not bad enough, when it became
apparent that the City of Cape Town could not prevent the local DA ward councillor,
Marga Haywood, from , giving damning oral
evidence before the Western Cape High
Court, the City hastily abandoned the
case and tendered legal costs to the Applicants. The inescapable conclusion of
this bizarre action on the part of the Mayor, can only be her need to protect
the DA councillors in the local Good Hope Subcouncil from being exposed for
corruption and bias.
The KPMG report and court papers clearly shows
that this is not a "he said, she
said" matter as alleged by the Mayor. The facts are very clear and the
KPMG report reveals that Cllr Errol
Anstey conceded that he made biased statements in favour of the Strong’s, who,
by their own admission, contribute to the DA party coffers
The unnecessary stress and
trauma caused to law-abiding ratepayers by the developer-friendly DA administration, not to mention
the financial commitment required of private individuals to fight a City
that blithely uses ratepayers money to
fight its own citizens, is shocking in the extreme and should
result in the Mayor falling on her own sword.
The estimated cost of this
exercise in futility, including the cost of the KPMG report, runs into the
millions of rand and constitutes fruitless and wasteful expenditure on the part
of the Mayor. This is surely a case for investigation by the office of the
Public Protector.
In addition taking into account two recent cases before the Western Cape High
Court, namely the attempted cancellation of the Camps Bay Bowling
Club lease and the Wynberg MyCiti debacle, where the Mayoral Committee's
decisions, bulldozed through the DA caucus, were reviewed and set aside by that
Court (with sharp condemnation of the City's disregard for its Constitutional
obligations in terms of public participation), then a clear picture of abuse of
executive power on the part of Mayor
comes sharply into focus.
The arrogant statement by the
Mayor, that "we will consider our governance model a success" belies
the reality that the DA-led City, under Mayor de Lille, can only offer trite
and disingenuous comparisons to ANC rule, rather than set their own decent
standards for inclusive, transparent and accountable governance in the
City of Cape Town, which is rapidly being asset-stripped by the Mayor and her
friends and sponsors in the development industry.
The proposed sale of public land
in Clifton for private development, despite being protected under heritage laws
and against the wishes of the majority of stakeholders across the entire city -
and the accompanying public participation sham - is a good example of this
leadership style of Mayor de Lille.
Regards
Chris
Willemse
Chair
Camps Bay Ratepayers and Residents Association (CBRRA)
0836536363
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