What is happening at the City Council?

A 3rd online meeting of the Cape Town City Council on December 4th turned unexpected when Felicity Purchase, the Council Speaker, prevented councillor Jack Miller from addressing objections to the Deep South Local Spatial Development Framework (LSDF).

Mr Miller had planned to present concerns from Subcouncil 19, encompassing Noordhoek, Kommetjie, Ocean View, Fish Hoek and surrounding suburbs, about a proposal to unethically densify the Deep South. Residents argue that densification would strain already fragile ecosystems, overload infrastructure and increase the city’s long-term subsidy commitments already burdening the middle-class. His intervention, however, never made it to the floor. Purchase halted him after issuing three penalties for what she described as the “misuse” of the internal meeting chatbox, a digital message board used by councillors during virtual proceedings.

The penalties effectively barred Mr Miller from speaking on the LSDF. He maintains that the sanctions were imposed unfairly and amounted to blocking a councillor from fulfilling his statutory role. “I attempted to resolve the matter with the Speaker and explained that I had both a statutory and a democratic obligation to reflect the concerns of those who elected me” he said. The Speaker did not relent, and the debate moved on without his contribution.

The City, led by the Democratic Alliance, has defended its broader densification agenda, which it is pursuing in suburbs from Table View to Somerset West. Yet the handling of this particular meeting raises the question of whether the Speaker’s decision was less about disciplinary action and more an attempt to silence organized community objections.

One also has to wonder why the City Council is meeting online when they have space to meet in person? Is this intentional to silence debate?

There is actually a campaign going to Remove Felicity Purchase as Speaker of the City of Cape Town. Click HERE.