THE meeting of no confidence against Kouga Executive Mayor, Horatio Hendricks, was tabled under Rule 29 of the Standing Rules and Orders for the Meetings of Council.
The Council could only note and acknowledge the item, and could not vote on the matter as it did not recommend that any action emanate from the motion.
Kouga Deputy Mayor, Hattingh Bornman, said they have full confidence in the Mayor to lead the municipality.
“A year ago, under the leadership of Hendricks, the municipality was voted the best municipality in the Eastern Cape and the ninth best in South Africa – out of 205 local municipalities in the country,” said Bornman.
“What makes this even more remarkable is that it happened during the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the largest drought we have ever witnessed in Kouga.
“As the DA, we wish to reconfirm our support of a year ago at the inauguration, because under his leadership Kouga has kept growing and is currently one of the fastest growing local municipalities in the country – with more than R1 billion of building plans approved in the last year.”
Bornman continued that Kouga has become a destination of choice for major international events as seen in this weekend’s extremely successful SDC Championship at The Links in St Francis Bay.
“This driven by Hendricks’ vision of becoming the events capital of South Africa,” he said.
“Further to this, Hendricks was nominated by an all ANC group of mayors in SALGA EC to form part of the Provincial Executive, because of his ability to lead and be innovative.
“As the DA, we have confidence in Hendricks, because since he has been Mayor, every household in Kouga has a wheelie bin, keeping Kouga clean. Since he has sat in that chair, we have resealed more than 50km of road. Since he has been in the Office of Mayor, Kouga has built more than 30km of new tar roads.
“Currently, under Hendricks’ leadership, more than 1 000 low-cost houses are being constructed.”
According to Borman, with load shedding at an all time high, the DA under Hendricks, will be proposing that Kouga adds R27 million to its annual budget to erect the first phase of its plan to become energy independent.
“As the DA we see this motion as nothing but cheap politics from a party that has run out of ideas,” said Bornman.
“The matters raised in the frivolous motion was baseless and without a single corroborating evidence, and just a desperate attempt to destabilise good governance in Kouga.
“We note the motion, but confirm that we as the DA has full confidence in Hendricks, and will not be distracted from delivering the best services to all residents in Kouga.”
Progress under Mayor Hendricks has been remarkable and he should continue to lead the Kouga municipality.
For the first time in many years, Kouga has had excellent productive, non-political governance and constructive leadership since Mayor Hendricks took office. Something seldom seen under ANC lead municipalities. Thankful such a stupid motion was squashed.