Siphokazi Vuso|Published
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has vowed to continue challenging Kannaland Municipality’s financial management and service delivery record after the Western Cape High Court struck municipal manager Advocate Dillo Sereo’s urgent defamation application against the party and its parliamentary leader, George Michalakis, from the roll.
The court found that Sereo had failed to establish urgency or show that he could not obtain substantial relief through the ordinary court process.
It ordered him to pay the DA’s legal costs, including the costs of two counsel, in his personal capacity, and ruled that the costs could not be paid directly or indirectly from municipal funds.
The court did not determine whether the statements at the centre of the application were defamatory.
Michalakis said the ruling would not deter the DA from holding the municipality accountable.
Court did not rule on defamation allegations
“The MM chose to take me to court for defamation on an urgent basis. His matter was dismissed on the grounds that it is not urgent, and he was ordered to pay his legal costs in his personal capacity. The DA welcomes this,” he said.
Sereo had approached the court over statements attributed to Michalakis, who allegedly referred to municipal officials as the “10 tsoti’s” of local government and described Sereo as a “tender bender”.
Sereo argued that the remarks, together with a poster depicting him and nine other municipal managers as the “Least Wanted” and “The Terrible Ten”, damaged their reputations by portraying them as criminals.
The Kannaland Residents and Ratepayers Association (KRRA) has raised concerns about whether public funds could be used to cover Sereo’s legal expenses.
The association said it had approached the municipality’s chief financial officer, the Western Cape MEC for Local Government, Provincial Treasury and the Auditor-General for clarity on the matter.
“With Kannaland already facing serious financial challenges and operating under a Financial Recovery Plan, every rand of public money matters,” the association said in a statement on Facebook.
The municipality declined to comment.
DA vows to continue scrutiny
The DA has also criticised Kannaland’s financial management and service delivery record. Michalakis said the municipality had received disclaimed audit opinions for four consecutive financial years.
“The municipality has been unable to properly account for its use of taxpayer and residents’ money. Kannaland has received disclaimed audit opinions for the past four financial years, and residents feel the pain,” he said.
Michalakis also cited unreliable water supplies, a stalled sewage plant project and poor roads as evidence of ongoing service delivery problems.
However, the Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa (ICOSA) rejected the DA’s attempt to place responsibility for the municipality’s longstanding challenges on Sereo.
Vlancio Donson, responding on behalf of ICOSA, said the municipal manager was appointed in 2024 and had inherited problems spanning successive administrations.
Questions over use of public funds
“The DA conveniently omits the crucial fact that the current Municipal Manager was appointed only two years ago. This municipality has faced severe, systemic struggles for many years under successive ANC and DA-led administrations,” he said.
“To expect a total turnaround of decades of inherited mismanagement within two years especially in a remote, low-graded municipality in the Western Cape facing a critical scarce-skills deficit, is completely unreasonable.”
Donson said Sereo had made progress in addressing historical maladministration since taking office.
He also disputed the DA’s account of the water supply situation, saying water tankers had been deployed after local farmers refused to provide water to vulnerable farmworkers living on their land.
“ICOSA stands firmly behind the Municipal Manager and his management team as they continue the difficult but necessary work of undoing years of political mismanagement and delivering dignity to our communities,” he said.
Independent Ladismith ward candidate George Laubscher also raised concerns about the use of public funds in legal disputes involving municipal officials.
The DA maintains that it will continue to scrutinise the municipality’s performance, while ICOSA argues that Kannaland’s challenges must be understood in the context of years of inherited administrative and financial problems.
Cape Argus