Stellenbosch Municipality

Plein Street
Stellenbosch

Att: The City Manager

Dear Mr Daniels,

I was invited to attend a meeting as an observer yesterday at your premises at 11.30am.

The invitation was issued by TATIB Foundation, which had arranged the meeting with
certain of your officials.
Upon arrival, all present were asked to state their names and interest in the proceedings,
which we did.
The director planning, property and human settlement infrastructure, Mr Basil Davidson,
who had unilaterally assumed the chair of the meeting, ordered all members of the media
to leave the room, failing which the meeting would not proceed.
I challenged Mr Davidson, asking why, to which he replied he’d been instructed that the
press may not be present at such “planning meetings” where matters of a “technical
nature” were to be discussed.
TATIB’s Ian Odendaal challenged the assertion that it was a planning meeting, pointing
out it was a public meeting convened at the request of TATIB, as a means of following
up formally on what had transpired iro certain undertakings made in previous meetings
with municipal officials in the course of 2010, on the same subject.
Mr Davidson insisted that it was a planning meeting and that the press had to leave.
I asked Mr Davidson who had given the instruction to which he replied “It wasn’t a
person, it’s a policy”. I asked for a copy of the policy, at which point he became flustered
and said “We’ll have to get our hands on it and get it to you.”
Mr Davidson did say that the media were welcome to have access to the minutes of the
meeting. He also said in response to a request from me, that I was at liberty to speak
directly to any of the municipal officials present at the meeting if I sought clarification
from them about their contributions to the meeting as noted in the minutes.
I then left the meeting with one other journalist, stating for the record that I was
withdrawing under protest, in order to ensure that the meeting did actually take place.
I would be grateful if you could help me with a few questions:
1. 1. I understands that you were invited, initially accepted the invitation then withdrew
from the meeting. Is this indeed so, and if so, why did you not attend the meeting?
2. 2. In your absence, was Mr Davidson granted any delegated authority, and if so what
was the nature and extent of that delegated authority?
3. 3. With regard to Mr Davidson ordering the media to leave: was he carrying out your or
somebody else’s instructions, and if so whose?
4. 4. If indeed there is a formal written policy to exclude the media from meetings of a
“planning nature” may I see that policy, and could you please explain the motivation for
such a policy?
5. 5. If he was not carrying out anybody’s explicit instructions, and there is no such
official policy, did he act within his powers?
6. 6. The answers to the above questions notwithstanding, what is your view of the
manner in which Mr Davidson acted in ejecting the media from the meeting? In other
words, did he have the right to do so, and do you support his actions?
 7. 7. If you support his actions in ejecting the media, then I must ask what does the
Municipality have to hide?

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours truly,
Norman McFarlane
Correspondent

Bolander Lifestyle & Property

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