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Today, in a Special Council Meeting of the Knysna Municipality, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Knysna voted in favour of our motion to dissolve the Knysna Municipal Council, in terms of Section 34 of the Municipal Structures Act 1998, and to call for fresh elections in the municipality. Unfortunately, the motion did not garner the required two thirds majority, and did not pass.

This motion has shown the true colours of many of the political parties in the Knysna Council, namely the ANC, PBI, PA, and the EFF who voted against the motion to continue the looting of the Knysna municipality while service delivery collapses. The DA tabled this motion to rid the Knysna Council of its over-fragmented composition which has allowed the coalition of corruption to band together to loot the Knysna municipality.

Under the ANC/PBI/PA/EFF coalition of corruption, Knysna’s audit outcomes have regressed due to rampant financial mismanagement and irregular rate collection, waste and refuse management has stagnated, water quality and provision have sharply declined, and E-coli levels in the Knysna lagoon have skyrocketed due to the collapse of waste water treatment which has led to raw sewerage and effluent flowing directly into the ocean and surrounds.

The DA’s councillors supported the motion for the council’s dissolution to bring an end to this swift decline as a result of a fragmented council, while the ANC, PBI, PA, and the EFF voted against the motion to maintain the status quo of rampant corruption and mismanagement which benefits the personal interests of the parties involved and their councillors.

This highlights the fact that the ANC, PBI, PA, and the EFF chose to put themselves and their own personal interests ahead of those of Knysna and its residents, while also voting to keep their salaries. A vote to dissolve the Knysna Council means a vote for all councillors to lose their seats and their salaries in order to contest fresh elections in the interests of Knysna and its residents.

It is clear that the DA is one of very few parties in the Knysna council that cares about rescuing the municipality from the council’s over-fragmentation, which has rendered it impossible to elect and sustain a stable majority government to end the corruption and instability under the current council make-up.

Only a stable DA majority government can save Knysna from its rapid decline, and the DA will continue to work towards achieving this in the 2026 Local Government Elections where a DA majority government will rescue Knysna from the coalition of corruption and begin the process of returning Knysna to its status as the jewel of the Garden Route.

Issued by Ryan Smith MP - DA Constituency Head, Knysna