Charges have been laid with the police in Vredenburg to stop the DA-led council manipulating state resources and threatening the jobs of workers identified as supporters of GOOD ahead of a crucial by-election in the area.
Veteran DA ward councillor Sucilla van Tura resigned from the party and the council in July, announcing that she would contest the by-election for her vacant seat in the colours of GOOD. In an affidavit deposed to Vredenburg police she described how Saldanha Bay Municipality resources were being used to spy on GOOD meetings, and a culture of secret recordings and intimidation of workers, including Expanded Public Works Programme workers, to persuade people not to vote for GOOD.
Sy sê John Pieters, voorsitter van GOOD in Wyk 13, aan haar megedeel het dat “daar was aan hom gesê dat hy moet oppas anders gaan sy kontrak by die EPWP nie hernie word nie”. Sy het soortgelyke klagte van ander EPWP werkers ook gekry.
In a second affidavit, signed by an employee of the municipality’s electricity department, Mario van Rooy states: “Since I joined GOOD my job has been threatened by the DA Speaker of the Saldanha Bay Municipality, Olwane Daniels, as well as by Andre Joubert, a manager in the Saldanha Bay Municipality.
“Dit was duidelik dat die Speaker ongelukkig was omdat ek by die GOOD Party aangesluit het. Dit was ook duidelik dat sy my munisipale pos wou gebruik as ‘n wapen teen my,” sê Van Rooy.
Sammy Claasen, GOOD organiser for the West Coast region, said: “When we launch branches and put photographs on social media the Speaker’s people identify if there are any council or EPWP workers present, so they can be intimidated and threatened. This is not politics; it’s gangsterism funded by the council.”
GOOD national organiser, Shaun August MP, said the pattern of councils using taxpayer’s money to “reward” their political supporters with jobs was too common and had to be stopped.
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