Councillor Mark Willemse of the Knysna Independent Movement (KIM) was elected unopposed as the new speaker of the Knysna council at Friday’s ordinary council meeting.
This follows the departure of ANC councillor and former speaker Mncedisi Skosana earlier this week.
Skosana was removed by Western Cape local government MEC Anton Bredell as the ward 3 councillor, after he was found guilty in court of voting for political appointees to be employed in Knysna municipality.
The former speaker was also found guilty of submitting a false affidavit to the court as evidence.
In April 2023, the provincial local government department established an investigative committee to examine multiple allegations against councillors and provide recommendations.
The investigation followed a council resolution in 2022 to create seven support staff positions in the offices of Aubrey Tsengwa, Alberto Marbi and Skosana.
The investigation recommended that Skosana, former mayor Tsengwa and former deputy mayor Marbi, be removed from office.
Bredell has also ordered Skosana to repay 20% of all allowances he received as a councillor and speaker.
Tsengwa and Marbi both resigned as councillors ahead of Bredell’s sanctions.
In his letter, Bredell said the council resolution of the meeting of September 16 2022, to create support staff positions in the offices of the mayor, deputy mayor and speaker for political appointees, breached the code of conduct for councillors.
Bredell’s decision was then referred to the IEC.
A by-election will be conducted to replace Skosana, and it will follow another by-election on June 25 to find a new ward 8 councillor after Tsengwa’s resignation in March.
The Herald
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