MAKHADO (LOUIS TRICHARDT) – Local Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance, Mrs Marie Helm, this week strongly reacted to Council's allegation that she had not followed proper procedure when going to the media regarding Council's internal affairs.

This allegation was made in a statement issued by Council, following an article which appeared in the Zoutpansberger on May 9. In this article the DA severely criticised Council, especially one of its officials, Director Faith Muthambi, for the rude manner in which she had answered an official request for information. The request centred around allegations that certain Directors are defrauding Council by claiming fraudulent amounts of money under Council's Travel Allowance Scheme. With reference to Council's allegations that the DA had not followed proper procedure, Mrs Helm said that the DA had tried very hard to give the benefit of the doubt to the officials by writing a letter in which information was requested to prove the allegations wrong.

"This was done through the proper channels. The letter, dated April 1, 2003, has remained unanswered. The allegation that some Directors defraud the Travel Allowance Scheme, still stands. It is now clear that certain officials are either totally incompetent and unable to find the correct information, or too busy with a huge cover-up of the allegations of fraud. The question can be asked : If there is nothing to cover up, why refuse to answer perfectly reasonable questions?" Mrs Helm said.

In Council's statement, the Access to Information Act is also mentioned. According to Council, this access is limited and should not be abused. About this, Mrs Helm said that it would be a good idea for certain Directors to actually read the Act. "It seems as if certain officials have absolutely no idea what the relationship is between officials and their community. It is unconceivable in any country which calls itself a democracy, that public servants can arrogantly withhold information from the public. This behaviour seems to again indicate a cover-up of some sort," Mrs Helm said.

In the DA's initial request, copies of Council's newly-appointed Director's CVs were also requested. Council refused to supply such copies and stated that any effort to view these copies at this stage is "a hopeless case". "If the CVs of Directors are available, why not make the information public? The DA fails to understand why Mr Vic Viljoen could provide his CV, but the other Directors refused. According to the municipality, the 'right to information is limited and must not be abused'. The question can be asked why Mr Viljoen finds it acceptable to provide his CV? Maybe because he was appointed on merit?" Mrs Helm asked.

Mrs Helm said, however, that she was glad to hear that the municipality would consider grievances through the proper channels and that her requests for information would be answered in future.

"The DA would prefer to deal with such issues through the proper channels, but it seems as if the so-called 'proper channels' don't work and letters and questions of the DA remain largely unanswered," Mrs Helm said.