Leader of the opposition in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament and ANC member, Cameron Dugmore, has called on Premier Alan Winde to suspend Provincial Minister of Local Government Anton Bredell.

Dugmore says several allegations, including maladministration and abuse of power, have been levelled against the provincial minister. He says there is reportedly a secret recording doing the rounds, wherein Bredell colludes with councillors in the Oudtshoorn Municipality to place the municipality under administration.

Dugmore claims that Bredell also destabilised the George Municipality through political interference. The ANC Provincial MP says this happened when Bredell launched an investigation into the municipality’s affairs and colluded with the Hawks during the probe.

“There’s a complete breach of the code of ethics that govern the work of MECs and what he has been doing is essentially destabilising local government to try and protect the DA from losing power in a number of municipalities. We have complained to the Public Protector about his unethical and illegal intervention in George where he intervened on the part of a councillor so that that councillor could become an official in the municipality.”

Bredell has denied any illegality on his part. He says the comments he made in a secret recording, which Dugmore is referring to, is only a 15-second clip out of a two-hour-long DA caucus meeting, which took place in December, that has been taken out of context.

“In George, it was Minister Bredell who called the Hawks in to investigate the DA-led council in 2018. In his capacity as chairperson of the DA in the province, the Minister was briefing DA councillors during a party caucus and providing them with legal clarification relating to administration options should the council decide to undertake that route. If an administration of sorts had actually happened in Oudtshoorn, it would, in fact, have meant that the Minister’s own party would not have been in control of the council any longer,” says Bredell’s spokesperson, James-Brent Styan.

soure: SABC News