Many residents in this region are baffled that a political party that received significantly less votes at the municipal elections somehow managed to oust the mayor of Swellendam Local Municipality.
Francois Du Rand yesterday (January 27) failed to survive a motion of no confidence that was brought against him by ANC chief whip Amanda Swart. He watched as the five ANC councillors, aided by Juan van Schalkwyk’s (FF Plus) swing vote, sealed his fate.

It is, however, important to note that Du Rand will remain onboard as a Ward Councillor and that the status quo as far as voting on council resolutions (despite the DA’s loss of the executive Mayor position) is unchanged.
It is equally important to understand that Council elects the Mayor and not the people. A new Mayor of Swellendam Municipality will be elected by Council on February 3.
What is the importance of the Mayor’s role?
According to the Municipal Systems Act, a local municipal mayor, also known as the Executive Mayor, holds the primary power to implement the decisions of the Municipal Council, identify community needs, recommend strategies to address those needs, and oversee the delivery of municipal services, all while acting within the framework of powers delegated to them by the council through Section 59 of the Act; essentially acting as the executive leader of the municipality responsible for day-to-day operations.
Furthermore, council may also decide to elect a deputy Mayor – a position that has been vacant for more than two years.
The question disgruntled residents should be asking themselves is; how did the party that had the lion’s share of power end up losing their stronghold?
The Barrydale Blunder
The simple truth of this matter is that this latest change in guard can be attributed to shortsightedness on the part of the Democratic Alliance.
The party had tried everything in their power to point fingers at the opposition, yet to date they have yet to admit that they have only themselves to blame for the situation they are in.
The DA underestimated their opponents and neglected to take better care of their forgotten child that is Barrydale.
“I’ve lived here when the ANC was in charge of service delivery and now with the DA I can honestly say that not much has changed. In fact, just take a look at the condition of our roads.” a Barrydale business man noted.
Yes the DA’s lack of knowledge, interest and understanding of the inner workings of Ward 2 (Barrydale) is what ultimately gave the opposition the opportunity to utilise the Freedom Front’s swing vote to their favour.
It took many years for the DA to gain some sort of stronghold on this side of the Langeberge and yet it took only a few months (and more than a few rash ego based decisions) to undo the work they had done.
One can almost say that they, themselves, caused the divide that would eventually see them fall on their sword.

After failing to come to some sort of truce with their elected Ward Councillor ( former deputy Mayor Michael Pokwas) who was shunned even though he had just years ago managed to reclaim the Ward, the DA entered a subsequent by-election with well…. no plan whatsoever.
The DA then had the opportunity to show humility in defeat, but instead chose to blatantly ignore the outcome of the by-election and carried on in Barrydale with a “business as usual” approach.
They insulted the intelligence of their support base, but they did not have to worry too much about the outcome of the by-election because they had already secured the loyalty of the Freedom Front.
Boy did that backfire when Van Schalwyk, who was instated as a Speaker, refused to just blindly accept their word as truth.
Instead he challenged certain policies and procedures and a year ago he cast his first vote that was against the coalition agreement the FF Plus and DA had in place.
Read that article below:
DA Resorts to Underhanded Tactics
Van Schalwyk’s unwillingness to blindly follow coalition lines resulted in the DA losing their moral compass.
The first recorded incident that sparked outrage in the community was the alleged bribery of Suurbraak Councillor Donovan Julius.
Julius was allegedly offered a bribe that amounted to R2-million. What makes this accusation that was listed in the motion of no confidence against Du Rand more interesting is that even the most staunch DA supporters agree that Julius is an honourable man who would never twist the truth.
There are also a number of corruption allegations and tender irregularities that are being investigated but these reports are not yet available to the public.
Blackmail and Beyond
Unbeknownst to Du Rand, two of his Barrydale supporters took it upon themselves to blackmail Van Schalkwyk’s PA, Aluchia Hattingh, in an attempt to add more fuel to what has become a raging inferno.
Or did they finally realise what the impact of their shunning of Pokwas was going to have on the entire community?
The duo opened a barrage of cases at the local SAPS office ranging from Hate Speech and Intimidation to Corruption, Defamation, Intimidation and Interfering with Official Investigations – all in an attempt to discredit Van Schalkwyk and his supporters.
The subsequent resignation of Van Schalkwyk’s right hand lady, Hattingh, placed him under more pressure and when considering the role she had played in assisting the community, her resignation was a significant loss to the municipality at large.
In the leaked conversations between the VF Plus’ local leaders a lot of the community work she did was well documented.
“I used to work for the Speaker until I got blackmailed into resigning by specific people,” Hattingh revealed on a community group.
These cases, including one that could ruin Hattingh’s professional career, were deemed to be absurd and never made it to court.
While a lot of these actions were not known to Du Rand, they were nonetheless conducted by individuals who are part of in his inner circle.