Thursday, June 24, 2010

DA councillor fired after fleecing poor

A CAPE Town DA councillor being probed by police for fraud, has been given the chop after Local Government MEC Anton Bredell accepted the Council's finding that she had fleeced poor people and should be fired.

In April, a disciplinary hearing found Charlotte Tabisher guilty on charges of irregularly collecting "top-up" payments from R300 to R1 000 from people desperate to be included in a state-subsidised housing project. It also found she had helped a member of the public to draft a fraudulent document.

The hearing fined her R10 000 and recommended her dismissal. Yesterday a statement from Bredell's office stated that councillors were expected to be honest and perform their functions in a transparent manner - a code Tabisher contravened.

It referred to Bredell's budget speech earlier this year when he had said: "Councillors and public officials are elected to serve the people and not line their own pockets."

Independent Democrats councillor, Brett Heron welcomed Tabisher's dismissal.

Tabisher could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile Bredell still has to decide the fate of nine ANC councillors at the Stellenbosch municipality. Last month a Stellenbosch council disciplinary hearing found that they had breached the code of conduct for councillors when they missed three consecutive council meetings. Their absence had resulted in a delay in passing the council's budget.

- The Mecury

No comments: