Beetge has become target of a witch-hunt

EDITOR – From their letters to the Sun in recent weeks, I note that Cllr Andre Beetge has become the target of a witch-hunt, led by Messrs Tommy Ackerman and Frank Horn.

No surprise of course as these gentlemen are coupled on the ANC tote.

Their campaign of villification is a pretext and nothing to do with Cllr Beetge’s performance as a councillor. He just happens to be the current DA ward councillor. Any other person holding the same post would be subjected to the same treatment. It’s all about the ANC’s apparently insatiable lust for power and financial benefit. They hate the fact that they do not hold Ward 97 and so, in desperation, they fidget and fret, conspire and concoct.

Uncomfortable as this may be, Cllr Beetge must accept the fact that public representatives are fair game. Harsh criticism by members of the public from time to time is normal, part of the territory so to speak. However, in this instance, Mr Ackerman has gone beyond what is acceptable. He has directed a torrent of unjustifiable, highly personal and offensive abuse at Cllr Beetge. Among other things he refers to Cllr Beetge as ‘dirty’, as ‘a loser with diminished social capacity’, someone of ‘low standing’, with ‘diminished intelligence’ and so on. Ours is a fairly close-knit community where everybody knows everybody. How must Cllr Beetge’s family feel? Surely they must feel the humiliation! This is obscene, unacceptable and must not stand.

I digress for a moment on the issue of ‘intelligence’. Referring to the recent elections, Ackerman proudly states “It is publicly known that I spoilt both my ballots…..I used a short fat marker to write on the ballot ‘stop corruption’ and in the DA’s space ‘incompetent’.” Go figure.

Ackerman variously blames Cllr Beetge for the state of the rivers, the bird sanctuary, the jobless in Warner Beach, drug abuse and even prostitution. Utter rubbish. These are symptomatic of failure by the state and local authority, not the councillor. Question is, why did Ackerman and his comrade not do something about these issues? After all, they have a direct line to the seat of power and, if they really cared, could surely have these problems attended to in a flash.

With regard to Frank Horn, the ‘community’ man, I must say he is a rather interesting chap. We now have the gentleman cruising and schmoozing on the riverbank, chatting away and taking pictures of this and that, climbing on the bandwagon, now that others have taken the initiative. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. By sheer coincidence, I happened across Horn’s Facebook page the other day. Surprise, surprise, it seems he is plotting against his own community. Reporting to his ANC superior, EXCO Cllr Fawzia Peer, Horn says:

“The DA councillor Andre Beetge is an Ex Officio on the committee with predominantly white DA members on the SCT(Sapphire Coast Tourism). Fawzia this is a political story and biggest secret kept from the REC(the ANC’s regional executive committee). The most disturbing fact is that city funds are directed at the SCT which functions with a white committee who came into power after the constitution was manipulated by a poorly advertised AGM of ten white people.” I subsequently asked Horn to share this information with the Sun and residents of the predominantly white Ward 97. He declined.

Finally, a quote from Mr Horn’s most recent letter dated 27 June 2014: “I make a sincere and hearfelt appeal to the councillor and committee to consider and serve the best interests of the people of Ward 97 and not that of political parties or politics…… and place Toti first.” Truly, the mind boggles. An anti-white white is hard to fathom. He must be a chameleon.

I will be submitting a formal complaint to the South African Humans Rights Commission. There are procedures involved so this could take several months. There have of course been worse cases of hate speech so I don’t expect anything too dramatic.