City of Cape Town: DA Blocks Public From Portfolio Committee Meeting, Again

GOOD Statement by Axolile Notywala, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor:

The DA in Cape Town has once again demonstrated its disregard for transparency and democratic process.

This morning’s Human Settlements Portfolio Committee meeting was delayed by 45 minutes after Chairperson Cllr Albert Ntsodo refused to allow members of the public to attend. This exclusion violates Section 20(1) of the Municipal Systems Act, which states that council and committee meetings must be open to the public unless there are compelling reasons to close them. No such reasons were provided. The City’s own Rules of Order reinforce this requirement.

Despite a formal written request submitted on 26 September for 15 community members from Khayelitsha, Manenberg, Conradie Park, Goodwood, and civil society organisations to attend, the Chairperson responded, after requesting their names, claiming their issues were “not on the agenda.”

Eight community members attended anyway and took their seats. After disappearing to “consult,” the Chairperson returned with no explanation. The meeting proceeded only after the delay, with the public seated as they were entitled to be from the start.

This is not an isolated incident. Last month, I raised concerns about similar efforts to silence opposition voices and exclude the public in this very committee,  part of a broader pattern of the DA using procedural tactics to avoid accountability and scrutiny.

Today’s small victory is that residents stood their ground and secured their rightful place in the meeting. But the broader issue remains: the DA is steadily eroding participatory democracy in Cape Town. We will not allow this to go unchallenged.

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