GOOD Statement by Roscoe Palm, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor:
The DA councillors in Subcouncil 20 shielded Deputy Mayor Eddie Andrews from scrutiny over a project that has spent only R293 of its R200 000 allocation in a month. Once again, highlighting the DA’s tendency to protect their own instead of protecting the public purse.
Instead of allowing the GOOD Party to question Deputy Mayor Andrews about his continued failure to deliver on his Hillsong Africa Foundation Grant-in-Aid project, I was arbitrarily and unlawfully removed from the meeting.
The facts show that Deputy Mayor Andrews does not even understand the scope of his own project. He admitted at a previous meeting that he did not know the approved scope included family members of the youth target group, and he attempted to amend it outside of the proper process.
The Grant-in-Aid was approved by full Council, with the GOOD Party as the only party to vote against it. This project was approved at the expense of an Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre that would likely have used the funds responsibly. Instead, the DA chose to fund the Deputy Mayor’s church foundation, a wealthy foreign interest, and the result has been total failure. Eddie Andrews and the Hillsong Foundation must pay back every cent of the R200 000 in taxpayers’ money that has been wasted.
My removal exposes a deeper rot of lack of oversight and complacency in council. This Subcouncil has never faced real opposition, preferring to shower themselves and their pet projects with grants-in-aid as patronage. Other opposition has been absent and ineffective. I have been the only councillor holding the DA to account and that has made me a target. My exclusion from this meeting is both petty retaliation for effective opposition and a deliberate attempt to shield the most ineffective Deputy Mayor in the City’s history.
My removal violated the Rules of Order, the Subcouncil By-law (2015), and the Municipal Systems and Structures Acts, which all protect councillors’ rights to participate fully in Council and Subcouncil meetings. Subcouncil Rule 4(2) guarantees every councillor the right to be heard before any decision affecting them is made, while Section 9(1) of the Subcouncil By-law requires openness, accountability, and fairness in all proceedings. Cutting me off broke both the letter and the spirit of these rules. This action also undermines constitutional principles of transparency and fairness, and may amount to an unlawful administrative act under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act for being procedurally unfair.
The GOOD Party has formally written to the Chief Whip demanding an investigation into the circumstances under which my participation was terminated, and clear guidance to all Subcouncil Chairs and Managers that councillors cannot be excluded on arbitrary or political grounds. The GOOD Party further demands a formal apology and the opportunity for me to comment on all agenda items from which I was illegally excluded at the next Subcouncil meeting.
The DA cannot continue using the machinery of Council to silence opposition, protect its failing Deputy Mayor, and hide the collapse of projects funded with public money.
GOOD Sports and Recreation: GOOD supports sports and recreational activities for youth engagement.
Tart Voodoo
Fun South African Fact: The national animal of South Africa is the Springbok, the only southern African gazelle.
Ba1T
Voetsek! – Go away! [foot-sak] Usually said with an angry tone when telling someone to go away or get lost. You don’t want to be saying this to a local or worse, if a local says this to you – you’ve really angered them!