Discredited DA mayor should resign immediately

Eden district municipality DA mayor Wessie van der Westhuizen and his whole mayoral committee must immediately resign after an effective motion of no confidence in him.

The motion to have Van der Westhuizen removed as councillor was unanimously carried yesterday after a disciplinary committee found he breached the councillor's code of conduct and should be removed as a councillor. Various corruptive charges were brought against him and he was found guilty by a multiparty committee of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure as well as that he attended a DA function, but the municipality had to pay the cost.

ANC Western Cape local government spokesperson Pierre Uys says: "Van der Westhuizen was found guilty on a number of serious charges and is not fit to hold public office at a local government anymore. He is a dysfunctional mayor and all decisions taken by him and his mayoral committee will be questionable and in effect wrong.

"He must resign now. The ANC will vigilantly watch if he is going to be offered a soft landing or the DA will deploy him elsewhere."

Van der Westhuizen is a councillor in both Eden district municipality and Oudtshoorn.

"He breached the Municipal Finance Management Act, transgressed the code of conduct for councillors and should be removed as a councillor in both councils as he is unfit to hold such office. Further to this, criminal charges should be laid by DA speaker Doris Nayler as was recommended in a forensic report and all the other implicated parties (municipal manager Godfrey Louw and officials too) should also be charged accordingly. All the money lost should now be recovered soonest from Van der Westhuizen and all others implicated," Uys says.

Statement issued by ANC Chief Whip Pierre Uys, September 27 2013

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