Does Alec Hogg know?

Alec Hogg is a prominent business journalist, broadcaster and founder of BizNews.com, a daily online business news portal headquartered in Hermanus where he lives.

Does Alec Hogg know what is happening in Hermanus and the Overstrand?

Between the 2020/2021 and 2023/2024 season, the Council approved write-offs of irregular expenditure totalling over R25 million. Then, on 29 October 2025, the Overstrand Council wrote off irrecoverable debt of R53 658 380,02. Read more about this HERE.

From what I can work out, the debt write-off in the Overstrand is related to the payment of basic municipal services such as electricity and refuse removal. There looks to be two aspects to this growing problem. First, there appears to be a shortfall in the national “equitable share” allocated to fund municipal services for indigent households. Second, the municipality is unable to maintain basic order by collecting payment for municipal services.

What I find interesting is that the Land Party is actively working to have municipal debt written off. In December 2025, the party claimed on Facebook that it had helped cancel municipal debt for more than 20 000 households, which likely forms part of the R53 million write-off. Read my article for more on the Land Party.

If debt scrapping is driven by political pressure or intimidation, it signals growing lawlessness. The cost does not disappear; it shifts to middle-class residents and property owners through rates and other tariffs. Used as a political tool, debt scrapping will escalate with elections, alongside land invasions, fires and unrest. This creates entitlement, punishes responsible citizens, and moves the Overstrand towards a unfavourable position.

Some households receive water, electricity and refuse removal for free, while others pay in full. This “one rule for me and another for thee” system is unethical, unsustainable and destroys trust between residents and local government. The R53 million is not just lost revenue; it exposes leadership choices that enable the problem.

The Overstrand Action Network is currently running a poll related to the write-off of irrecoverable consumer debt. These are the results so far.

I am not on speaking terms with Alec, but I hope he reads this and is willing, together with others such as Cuan Elgin, to help expose a growing problem of lawlessness in Hermanus and the Overstrand. When government fails to enforce the law, it shifts the burden from the lawless onto those who comply (for now at least). This is anarcho-tyranny.

Anarcho-tyranny is a two-tier society, where one set of rules applies to some and not to others. Lawlessness is tolerated, and often indirectly incentivised, while responsible citizens are penalized through rates, taxes, fines, and compliance costs. Read my article for more on the growing anarchy in the Western Cape