This speech was delivered during today’s City of Cape Town Full Council Meeting: Item C09/07/25 – non-adoption of national treasury circular 131 by Wesley Neumann, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor:
Speaker
On behalf of the GOOD Party, I rise to express our unequivocal and principled objection to the City’s recommendation to reject the National Treasury’s Municipal Finance Management Act Circular 131. This Circular is not optional.
It is a binding safeguard against financial misconduct, irregular expenditure, and the misuse of public funds disguised as so-called “donations” or “grants” to external entities.
What the Executive is proposing today is not merely reckless. It is a calculated and disingenuous attempt to sidestep constitutional procurement laws, in direct violation of the clear provisions outlined in Section 67 of the Municipal Finance Management Act.
If an external body is providing a service. Whether in tourism promotion, event management, safety support, or animal care, it constitutes procurement, not a grant.
It must be subjected to a fair, competitive, and transparent tender process. Anything less invites corruption, undermines accountability, and places ethical public servants at legal risk.
But Speaker, this matter extends beyond procedural evasion.
This administration, under the Mayor’s leadership, has become increasingly pusillanimous in the face of real transparency, retreating into closed-door, in-committee decisions that are closed to public scrutiny.
It is a disingenuous branding of legal compliance as “red tape” and public oversight as a nuisance, when in truth, it is a thin veil for a kleptocratic impulse to preserve unchecked power and channel public funds toward politically aligned organisations and pet projects.
Speaker, the number of in-committee meetings is not decreasing, it’s escalating. This is the reality in what is cynically paraded as the “best-run city in the world.” Behind closed doors, democracy is being suffocated, not strengthened.
This is not good governance.
It is a statement of intent to create a shadow state within the City, where rules are bent, oversight is avoided, and the public interest is subverted for political expediency.
Speaker, the GOOD Party will not be party to this betrayal of public trust.
We call on Council to reject this dangerous agenda and to reaffirm our collective duty to uphold not only the law, but the principles of transparency, fairness, and democratic accountability.
GOOD Land Reform: The party supports fair land reform that respects property rights.
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