Whether or not Knysna is placed ‘under administration’ and the current council dissolved is now hanging in the balance after the Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Public Administration (Traditional Affairs, Human Settlements and Water and Sanitation) met in Knysna yesterday, Tuesday 23 September to consider submissions on the matter. The final decision will be made at a special National Council of Provinces (NCOP) meeting on Friday this week.

NCOP Chairperson Mxolisi Kaunda said the committee viewed yesterday’s meeting necessary in order to interact with and get inputs from relevant internal and external stakeholders in the matter, before deciding whether the NCOP should overturn the provincial government’s ruling.

The meeting follows the 12 September 2025 notice of intention from the Western Cape Provincial Government to dissolve the Knysna Municipal Council and appoint an administrator with full executive and legislative authority until new municipal elections can be held. This decision was made in accordance with Section 139(1)(c) of the South African Constitution, a measure used as a last resort when a municipality fails to meet its executive obligations.

Proceedings started at 10am, and after introductions had been made, Local Government MEC for Western Cape Anton Bredell made presentations regarding the controversial decision. He said that it was certainly not politically motivated, but had been triggered by the deterioration of Knysna’s municipal services over time. He pointed out that the town had been under a ‘hung council’ since the last local elections, which had greatly impacted the stability of the administration.

“From where I sit, Knysna has a leadership and management problem, and if we don’t deal with these problems we are going to lose everything that is so dear to the people,” he said. The MEC then went on to list the town’s infrastructure problems, from water supply, to sewage, to a heavily challenged fleet, to solid waste and environmental damage. He described the average council meeting as a ‘circus’, also suggesting budgets and priorities had been mismanaged and that the administration was collapsing under debt.

Since receiving notice of the administration earlier this month, Knysna Executive Mayor Thando Matika has gone to great lengths to challenge Bredell’s decision, insisting that Knysna is definitely on the up and up.
At the meeting he reiterated that NCOP should take into account the measurable progress he believes the municipality has made, particularly since Council adopted the Consolidated Executive Obligations Monitoring and Enforcement Framework (CEOMEF) in June 2024.

He says Knysna Municipality has not stood still but taken decisive action to implement structural reforms and enhance service delivery, and that over the past year, Knysna Municipality had methodically implemented the Section 154 Support Plan and made notable strides in governance, infrastructure and environmental compliance.

The meeting also gave councillors, leaders of various institutions, political party representatives and civil action groups the opportunity to speak about the Knysna Municipality, each indicating whether they were for or against the Western Cape Government’s ‘administration’ plan. Whilst the councillors held their party lines (the DA members for and the ANC Coalition members against), it seemed that the majority of the rest of those speaking were against the administrative take-over, but keen on more assistance from the Western Cape Provincial Government.

Even before the meeting the DA caucus had left no doubt as to the party’s view of the best way forward.
“The DA in Knysna supports the dissolution of Council and appointment of an administrator as the only path to restore proper service delivery and good governance to our community,” said Councillor Levael Davis in a statement issued last week, “Since 2018, multiple diagnostic reports have revealed governance and service delivery failures. Under the ANC/EFF/PBI/PA and now KIM coalition, these failures have escalated to unprecedented levels across the municipal area.”

If not set aside by NCOP, the administration order will be effective on 26 September, 14 days from the date of receipt of the notice. The administrator will be tasked with implementing recovery plans, enforcing service delivery standards, approving budgets, and stabilising municipal operations in Knysna.

Should the current council be dissolved, as proposed by the Western Cape administration, fresh municipal elections would take place within 90 days of the dissolution. These will be overseen by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). Current council members are permitted to stand for election again