Knysna mayor to be gone next week

KNYSNA Mayor Mark Willemse has been found guilty of misconduct by the DA and given until next Friday to resign or risk termination of his membership.

This was part of the findings by the party’s provincial disciplinary committee after it completed hearings involving Willemse and fellow DA councillor Peter Myers.

The two men were found guilty of misconduct in terms of the DA’s Federal Constitution as a result of their vote in favour of a motion of no confidence against Willemse’s predecessor Eleanore Bouw-Spies.

DA provincial communications manager Odette Cason said the party completed the disciplinary hearings and had taken all the evidence against Willemse and Myers into consideration.

“Certain sanctions were proposed which were amended slightly and accepted by the Western Cape Provincial Executive Committee.

“These sanctions include that councillor Willemse must accept, as per the outcomes of the Federal Executive, that a process to select a new mayoral candidate for Knysna will be instituted.

“Willemse will need to resign as mayor at least two days before the interviews for the mayoral candidate.”Cason said Willemse also had to remove Myers as a member of the mayoral committee within the next 10 days.

Willemse had roused the ire of the DA by refusing to resign from his position on two occasions following his appointment as mayor and said he remained committed to his task and will seek legal advice following the disciplinary outcome.

“We received notification over the weekend and I have forwarded this to my legal counsel for review on the matter before we make a decision.

“There seems to be a contradiction in the decision considering it found we voted with our conscience, which had been challenged in the highest court of the land, Yet, we were still found guilty of voting against a caucus decision,” said Willemse.

Myers said that they had till next Friday to appeal against the provincial executive committee’s decision to the Federal Legal Commission (FLC).

“Should I decide to appeal, then one of the courses of action open to me is to seek to have the entire finding of misconduct overturned by the FLC. I will take this decision only after taking further legal advice and consulting with residents of my ward and with the wider Knysna community,” he said.

ANC councillor Tati Gomob said her party had been focusing on their own by-elections and maintained that the decision to oust Bouw-Spies was done with the town’s interest at heart and that the DA must do what it considered best to move the town forward.

‘Should I decide to appeal, one course is to have the finding overturned’