Fun and games at council meeting

THE Kouga Municipality’s special council meeting last week did not disappoint.
The entertainment value was good, although it must be said it seemed to be very much the same old, same old.
The only difference this time was some of the roleplayers. Although old stalwarts like Vernon Stuurman and Phumzile Oliphant again managed to keep the discussions lively it was another old-timer, Chimpie Cawood who stole the show.
Cawood drew an analogy between two rugby teams with scores level nearing full time, and both praying for the winning kick, and the current situation in St Francis Bay, where 50% of the residents are in favour of paying a once-off riparian levy, and the other 50%are not. This got the councillor a hoot of laughter and prompted Mayor Booi Koerat to ask: "What about the reserves?”
Koerat had nothing more to add for the remainder of the meeting.
At the onset of the meeting, Oliphant was deeply disturbed that the isXhosa spelling mistakes on the agenda were distracting, and disrespectful to his language. He pointed out that this was not the first time this had caused concern as the matter has been raised before.
The speaker, Magdalene Dlomo, also apologised because Koerat had signed the notice for the meeting as she was ill, and this apparently is unacceptable. In the absence of municipal manager Sydney Fadi who was away attending the ANC policy conference, acting municipal manager Colleen Dreyer took Stuurman to task as she felt the heading of an agenda item was incorrect.
Be that as it may, between all the above shenanigans and the various caucus calls, and the speaker taking five, very little was actually achieved. This despite the fact that there were still two budgeted items that had to be thrashed out before last Sunday’s budget deadline.
Yet it seems the real fun and games started when the media and the members of the public were asked to leave so that the so-called pink papers (confidential matters) could be discussed.
The mayoral committee apparently wanted council to rubber-stamp the appointment of five directors, and the DA was not having this as they believe the correct processes were not followed. The DA is even prepared to fight this in court.

So it is with bated breath that we await the outcome of all of the above.
– Cindy Liebenberg