The DA says the arrests of Knysna’s former mayor, acting municipal manager and acting chief financial officer over alleged kickbacks linked to a municipal security contract reinforce its concerns about the municipality.
DA Knysna mayoral candidate Levael Davis welcomed the arrests, saying the party had spent the past three years pushing for greater scrutiny and accountability in the management of public money.
“After three years of DA investigations, there is now proof that our fight within the council was about the people of Knysna, and not politics,” Davis said.
The arrests come as Knysna remains embroiled in political instability, with former mayor Thando Matika removed as an ANC councillor last month after standing as an SACP candidate in the upcoming local government elections.
Matika was arrested alongside acting municipal manager Boy Manqoba Ngubo and acting chief financial officer Busisiwe Lubelwana over allegations that a businessman holding a municipal security contract was solicited for kickbacks in exchange for the continuation of the contract.
Police allege that hundreds of thousands of rands had already been paid.
The three are expected to appear in the Knysna Magistrates’ Court on October 5, on corruption charges.
Davis said the DA had consistently pushed for greater accountability in the municipality, including what it described as efforts to block illegal cadre deployments.
“The Western Cape Government proposed invoking Section 139, but this was rejected and the proof now confirms it was justified,” Davis said.
“Accountability cannot end with arrests and if legal proceedings establish that municipal funds were unlawfully lost, every available mechanism must be used to recover our people’s money,” Davis said.
Davis said residents had endured coalition instability and a decline in basic services while the municipality faced repeated governance and financial crises.
“Every diverted rand could have fixed water infrastructure, sewerage, roads, refuse removal, the Estuary crisis and create job opportunities,” he said.
GOOD welcomes arrests
GOOD Garden Route Municipality councillor and mayoral candidate Rosa Louw said the arrests were a serious development because they involved three of the municipality’s most senior positions.
“These are three of the most senior positions in a municipality, entrusted with political leadership, administration and control over public finances,” Louw said.
Louw said the allegations that a businessman was solicited for kickbacks in exchange for retaining his security contract struck at the trust residents placed in local government.
She stressed that the accused remained entitled to due process.
“The accused are entitled to due process, and the allegations must now be tested in court,” Louw said.
Louw said municipal contracts involved public money and that those responsible should be held accountable if the allegations were proven.
“Nobody should have to pay anyone on the side to secure or retain work from a municipality. If that is what happened here, those responsible must be held accountable,” she said.
GOOD welcomed the investigation and said it expected the municipality to cooperate fully with law enforcement.
“Every rand lost to corruption is money that cannot be spent improving communities and delivering the services people pay for,” Louw said.
She said Knysna needed leadership focused on serving residents.
“Knysna deserves better than a municipality making headlines for all the wrong reasons. It deserves leadership that understands that public office is about serving people, not serving yourself,” Louw said.
The DA has called for the criminal and SIU investigations into the security tender to be pursued to their conclusion, with one standard of accountability regardless of political party or position.
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