Cape Town - The City of Cape Town’s office of the speaker concluded its probe into various allegations levelled against a Somerset West councillor, saying it had not found evidence of a breach of conduct.
Irate residents complained that the DA’s Norman McFarlane, who was elected councillor of ward 84 in Somerset West last year, had “failed to deliver on his promises”.
Members of his executive branch, including the chairperson, Tony McPherson, deputy chair George Bezuidenhout and secretary, Lillian Albertyn all resigned in the past six months following disagreements.
“McFarlane has an incredibly pompous and arrogant attitude, which comes across in his dealings with residents and activists,” said a former colleague, adding that “MacFarlane often says to residents ‘Ek is niemand se holborsel nie’ (a crude phrase that implies he is not a pushover).”
"McFarlane lacks communication skills, often not replying to queries and complaints, and when he does, they’re always defensive,“ he said.
Another complaint is that McFarlane, a former journalist, was regularly on a leave of absence or unreachable.
“There has been periods of no communication for more then two weeks,” one of his other colleagues told Weekend Argus.
DA constituency head, Benedicta van Minnen denied claims that McFarlane told community members that he is not their “holborsel”.
“That was said during an internal meeting, not to the public,” Van Minnen said.
“McFarlane’s issue is being dealt with by the City’s speaker ... there is a push from (DA) members to bring in a member of their own choice, this is what’s going on here,” Van Minnen said.
McFarlane told Weekend Argus that the complaints and allegations levelled against him were baseless.
"I did absolutely nothing wrong, it's political attacks, they want to bring their friends in," McFarlane said.
“They need to understand the role of a councillor, I can't be responsible for everything. It's mud-slinging and I will not tolerate this," he said.
“Since the Speaker of City of Cape Town Council, Alderman Felicity Purchase, has concluded her probe into the allegations, and no breach of conduct was found, I have no further comment.”
Speaker Felicity Purchase told Weekend Argus on Friday: “There have been complaints and we therefore launched a probe ... no breach of our code of conduct was found.
“Certain community members don’t understand the role of a councillor and therefore they expect the unexpected of their councillor.”
The ANC’s Cameron Dugmore said the allegations are “very serious”.
“From what I have heard, the DA councillor has totally lost the support of both the DA constituency as well as the broader constituency and this is a reflection on DA imposing candidates instead of allowing their membership to elect candidates,” said Dugmore.
Weekend Argus