The deputy mayor's response to Daily Maverick's Municipal Planning Tribunal exposé suggests that anyone who tries to hold the tribunal accountable for its far-reaching decisions will be denounced and discredited.

A recent series of investigative articles by Daily Maverick's Kevin Bloom examined Cape Town's planning and development approval system. These were summarised in a Daily Maverick video released on 25 July, containing nothing the original articles didn't already cover, but which has drawn more than 100,000 views online and provoked a furious response from senior City officials.

Since many of the residents featured in the series, and the video, represent members of the Cape Town Collective Ratepayers' Association, a body of 45 resident and ratepayer organisations across the city, it's important for us to set the record straight.

In a Facebook post attacking the video for presenting "false and unsubstantiated claims about Cape Town's Municipal Planning Tribunal", and accusing Daily Maverick of "irresponsible journalism", the deputy mayor and mayoral committee member for spatial planning and environment, Eddie Andrews, nevertheless claimed that Cape Town's planning system "is not beyond scrutiny".

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Unfortunately, his response to the exposé suggests exactly the opposite: that anyone who tries to hold the Municipal Planning Tribunal (MPT) - and the planning system - accountable for its far-reaching decisions will be denounced and discredited.

Cards stacked against residents

Rather than going on the offensive against the...