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Cape Town – A Beaufort West ANC councillor allegedly assaulted a journalist during a council meeting on Wednesday, says the DA.
"The ANC's behaviour is deplorable," DA constituency head Daylin Mitchell said in a statement.
Mitchell said a councillor smacked a journalist from a local newspaper, The Courier, who was reporting on the disruption of the municipality's council meeting.
ANC Western Cape provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs dismissed the claim that the journalist was smacked, but said the journalist's phone fell during a confrontation.
"The journalist came to intrude our caucus, which is unheard of, taking photos and trying to record our discussions," Jacobs said in a statement.
Irregular appointments, questionable expenditure
"Journalists must report on council developments and not behave like private investigators sent to spy on ANC councillors' activities outside council."
Mitchell claimed the ANC was trying to prevent a forensic audit when the incident took place.
The forensic audit will investigate the alleged irregular appointments of service providers, violations of municipal finance regulations and questionable expenditure under the previous administration, Mitchell said.
The Beaufort West municipality was thrown into chaos when DA mayor Djorge Malooi resigned at the end of February.
His resignation resulted in a deadlock between the ANC and the DA coalition with both having six votes in the council. A by-election is set to take place to fill the vacancy left by Malooi.
The DA said its coalition partner, the Karoo Democratic Force (KDF), is still committed to the coalition government. However, the ANC said the KDF has asked the party to make a proposal about a possible coalition.
