DA use law enforcement to intimidate IDP critics in Sandbaai

On 12 February 2026, an official ordinary ward committee session scheduled by Overstrand Municipality for Ward 7 at Sandbaai Hall as part of the February 2026 cycle was held under the leadership of Cllr Hybré Lombard, where elderly residents were forcibly ejected for asking critical questions of the Ward Committee.

One resident who attended the meeting subsequently shared a detailed firsthand account on social media platforms, including in the Facebook group “Stop the Rip-off in your Municipalty“, raising concerns about what transpired. The video was subsequently on X (via @CapePatriotic) and YouTube. Similar accounts from other attendees have appeared online, though no mainstream local news outlets have reported on the incident so far. On the same day, we published an article detailing longstanding allegations of ward committee misconduct focused on seat composition, providing background to objections raised during the meeting.

As residents arrived for the Sandbaai ward committee meeting, DA ward councillor Hybré Lombard called Law Enforcement for support; eight officers in total. This occurred on the same day as Land Party protest marches across Overstrand Municipality demanding free land, housing and services, giving the council cover for their misuse as a tool of intimidation against public oversight.

As one resident recalled on Facebook:
“The ward councillor called Law Enforcement last night to prevent public participation at the Sandbaai ward committee meeting. 8 officers stood around the members of the public. If someone objected, she told the officers to forcibly remove them. She ordered a man recording the meeting to be removed. A lady arriving late asked why people were being removed. She was removed. The ward councillor threatened myself and another ward committee member that we would be removed if we continued our objections. An official under investigation, Anver Wyngaard, took over for the IDP and yelled at me to never say his name. It was fascism on display last night.”

At the start of proceedings, Lombard insisted the gathering was not a public meeting and instructed that no recording would be allowed. This directive lacks legal basis under Overstrand Municipality’s Ward Committee Rules (2022, Section 9.3: “all meetings of the committee must be open to the public”) and imposes no prohibition on recording.

Nationally, under the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000 (MSA), Section 16 requires municipalities to “develop a culture of municipal governance that complements formal representative government with a system of participatory governance” and encourage community participation, including through open processes. Banning recording in an open public forum contravenes transparency principles, as no provision in the MSA, Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998, or Overstrand rules authorizes such a blanket restriction; many municipalities encourage or require recordings for accountability.

A man filming was surrounded by officers, ordered to switch off his camera and escorted out. Resident accounts specify he was allegedly “set up” to record before being targeted. When another resident objected to the ban on public participation and recording, he too was removed. A woman who calmly raised concerns was taken out by several officers, and even a latecomer who asked why people were being ejected was escorted from the hall. Video evidence shows elderly residents among those directed out by uniformed officers, with no visible violence but clear escorting actions.

Overstrand Ward Committee Rules contain no provisions authorizing removal of attendees except implicitly for order, and no explicit rules on maintenance of order or disruptive behavior are detailed. Under the MSA Section 17, participation mechanisms must include public meetings and hearings, with processes accounting for community input without undue restriction. Arbitrary removals without proven disruption violate MSA Section 16(1), which mandates encouragement of involvement, and potentially constitutional rights to freedom of expression and assembly (Bill of Rights, Section 16 and 17). Police or law enforcement involvement in removals from a routine municipal meeting falls outside standard public order policing under the Regulation of Gatherings Act 205 of 1993, which applies to demonstrations, not internal ward committee sessions.

The meeting continued under heavy warning that members of the public were not permitted to speak. Overstrand rules allow public addressing only “with the permission of the chairperson” (Section 9.4), but blanket silencing contradicts MSA Section 17(2), requiring mechanisms like public meetings, consultative sessions, and report-backs to facilitate input.Two ward committee members were threatened with removal if they voiced objections.

The reason for all this heavyhanded lawbreaking by the DA was that they want to ram through a local development plan worth 12 times the annual budget of the ward committee without consultation. They want to develop the road by a quiet part of town to increase traffic in a residential area, nominally to promote tourism, but with no tangible necessity, and a despite a great deal of practical reasons not to.

The Kusweg upgrades (sidewalks, verges, potential one-way conversion) were officially prioritized in earlier Ward 7 IDP inputs but placed on hold in October 2025 after a community survey showed 135 against vs. 58 in favor, with the municipality committing to further engagement. The full cost of this upgrade is R4.4 million, but no such allocation appears in public 2025/26 IDP documents, and no Environmental Impact Assessment has been conducted. Presenting it amid restricted participation raises concerns under MSA Section 29(1)(b), requiring community consultation on IDP drafting and priorities. Objections about the lack of public participation were met with further threats of removal.

Tensions escalated again during discussion of the Sandbaai IDP. Committee member Christopher Reid objected to the process, citing prior statements by the Executive Mayor about revising priorities and pausing votes while certain seats were under investigation.

Recent heavy rainfall in early February 2026 had also caused documented sewage overflows in Sandbaai pump stations, heightening local service delivery grievances. Resident accounts further allege threats extended to legal action for raising sewage complaints and misconduct charges for PAIA requests. Despite this, Lombard invited a party nominee for the upcoming elections to present the 2023 proposal. in order to get this pushed through, the local DA stacked the ward in a blatantly illegal fashion.

Three seats on the ward since 2021 have been held via proxy by Henk Lombard (Hybré Lombard’s husband, the Overberg ward councillor). Christopher Reid gained access to documents showing this illicit and nepotistic stacking of the committee. Henk Lombard is chair of Sandbaai Communal Housing Forum, the Ward 7 Ratepayers Assoc, and of Leisure Park HOA. Henk formed both of the former two to “meet his needs”. He then approached the RPA for affiliate status, and was denied, then formed his own. Dave Chambers, representing Sandbaai SRA (a nonexistent organisation) is also allegedly controlled by Henk Lombard. After discovering that the registration dates for these organisations rendered them illicit, Rochelle Louw of Strategic Support Services allegedly offered Lombard an opportunity to retroactively change the registration date. Another group was notified they would not be on the ballot because they were not on the ballot at least 6mo before the election, but an exception was made for Henk Lombard, whose registration preceded the election by just two months.

These SRAs have no feedback minutes – without quarterly meeting minutes, the SRA is by default illegitimate, and they have been in violation for four years, effectively a shadow committee In 2024, an item appears on the IDP called the Kusweg Project – done with no EIA, even though it falls within the coastal protection zone, and no compliance with legislation or public consultation or participation. 

The SRAs all “voted” for the IDP – these votes are generally regarded as illegitimate, with allegations including fraudulent alterations to the minutes.

Andre Wyngaard was previously fired for allegedly falsifying overtime documents as area manager, and is back with the Kleinmond administration to manage IDPs for various wards. After a meeting with Grant Cohen, Christopher Reid was assured that this would be looked into. Instead of looking into evidence, they just met with Henk Lombard, and put the matter to bed on his word alone. After multiple assurances rules would be dealt with, Wyngaard was sent to manage the meeting and ram through the Kusweg IDP element.

With regards to his heavyhanded conduct in the meetings, Wyngaard insisted that the laws which prohibited all of the above were just “guidelines”, and that they won’t be enforcing the rules. The Ward Committee is the primary vehicle for public participation, and the main way for the people to get their voice heard. 

People who own houses near the Kusweg enjoy peace and quiet. The road is now being made a one-way, sidewalks cutting into the native fynbos, and create spots for people to have “sundowners” prime parking spots to be exploited by local abalone poaches for easy coastal access. Sewage lines are not being upgraded or maintained, and there is large sewage outflow in this area, spilling onto the street. Henk Lombard threatened ward committee members with legal action for complaining about this. The development is worth R4.408m, consuming the entire Sandbaai ward budget for 12 years, using the annual budget for this year to get their foot in the door with the project. 

Dean O’Neil, MM for Overstrand, threatened Christopher Reid with a misconduct violation for reporting violations and making PAIA requests. Ward committee members also falsely claimed the proposals came from the Ratepayers associations, and threatened removal of any members who contradict such claims, even if with evidence. Members consistently objected to recordings of the meetings, allowing the chair to prohibit. Despite a court order allowing recordings, members were forcibly removed on multiple occasions. Even objections to the removals got members removed. Phones were demanded to be handed over so that footage could be deleted.

The problems include the mayor himself, who stated in a public meeting that if you have a problem with your ward councillor, you need to report it to your ward councillor – an absurdity that caused peals of laughter from the crowd. The council is also trying to change rules to allow all the aforementioned violations.

But it didn’t stop at the mayor – provincial DA oversight has also refused to deal with the problem. Complaints escalated in July 2025 with presentation to Speaker Grant Cohen, who started an audit but referred it to provincial authorities. In September 2025 it was escalated to Municipal Manager Dean O’Neill with PAIA requests for documentation, and in October 2025 to MEC Anton Bredell, who then affirmed there was no provincial investigation underway.

Henk Lombard denies all allegations, stating he is not a committee member, that no rule prohibits a councillor’s spouse from community organizations represented on it, the organizations were properly formed and active pre-2021, and that feedback was duly submitted to the municipality.

Lombard was contacted, but has not yet offered a response. No official statement has been released from Overstrand Municipality, the DA, or law enforcement addressing the specific allegations of suppressed participation, unlawful removals, or procedural violations.