A court has ordered Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie to submit documents for an investigation into aspects of his Central Karoo Municipality mayorship, including the glitzy Sandton gala he hosted to raise funds for ‘service delivery’.Former Central Karoo District Municipality mayor Gayton McKenzie, and a law firm linked to the Patriotic Alliance (PA), have been ordered by the Western Cape High Court to hand over information to investigators looking into allegations of corruption. According to Monday’s court order, they must comply with investigators’ requests for information related to a Section 106 probe initiated by Western Cape MEC for Local Government Anton Bredell.

Among other issues, the investigation is probing a glitzy gala dinner that raised R3-million in Sandton in 2022 ostensibly for service delivery projects in the Karoo.

The court directed the law firm Botha E & Erasmus Y Inc to furnish information related to the fundraiser, including copies of agreements and memoranda, and documentation confirming the use of funds related to service delivery projects during McKenzie’s mayorship.

According to the court, in August 2023, Bredell ordered forensic investigators to look into allegations of maladministration, fraud, corruption and other serious malpractices at the municipality. McKenzie’s party, the Patriotic Alliance, referred to the investigation in a statement issued shortly before the elections.

Responding to the court order, the PA’s head of legal, Eugene Botha, said the court order instructed law firms and service providers to “share certain limited documents and private bank statements, to be redacted”, with Bredell’s investigation into whether there was any maladministration by the municipality concerning McKenzie’s projects to replace bucket systems and fix public pools in the Central Karoo District.

The judgment noted that the municipality had cooperated with the investigation. The district is governed by a coalition of the PA, the ANC and the Karoo Democratic Force (KDF).

It includes local municipalities such as Laingsburg, Beaufort West and Prince Albert. Laingsburg and Beaufort West are run by a coalition of the PA, ANC and KDF. Prince Albert is run by the DA, which governs the Western Cape.

The PA and DA have sporadically been at loggerheads and had a spat in 2023 over the very same gala fundraiser.