Speaker, the DA consistently feeds the public the propaganda that it runs its municipalities with honesty, integrity and transparency and that, were it in government, the people would be happy. However, increasingly, people residing in municipalities under DA rule are coming up with different stories. Residents of Swellendam Municipality are threatening to boycott upcoming local government polls because of their frustration with what they term deep-seated corruption, incompetence, maladministration and irregularities in the DA and ID-governed municipality.
Details of these activities were also exposed last week by Scopa in the Western Cape legislature. The people of Swellendam have expressed their disgust at the manner in which the municipality is being run. This includes nepotism, underhanded deals, political interference and a chaotic billing system ... [Interjections.]
Order! Order!
... which results in residents not being sent monthly bills, being billed inaccurately or being billed for double the amount owed. There is corruption and grand theft within the municipality and in the council under the leadership of Mayor Jan Jansen. The residents of Swellendam have also complained in the media that the DA has been running their municipality like an Afrikaner dorpie [little town], which has resulted in the division and the ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]