Hanover Park residents express outrage over councillor's acquittal of misconduct charges

Residents from Hanover Park said they were aggrieved by the decision of the City of Cape Town to find ward councillor, Antonio van der Rheede, not guilty of seven charges relating to misconduct, one of which was allegedly dishing out employment for sexual favours.

Van der Rheede was previously charged with the rape of a 27-year-old woman, who claimed he sexually violated her in exchange for employment opportunities.

The criminal matter before the court was dismissed and removed from the roll, citing political interference.

In a detailed report by the City, dated August 21, Van der Rheede pleaded not guilty to the charges put to him by the City.

He was charged with two counts of gross misconduct and five counts of breach of code of conduct for councillors 

The disciplinary proceedings were conducted between February 2023 and July 2025.

The allegations were that as ward 47 councillor (Hanover Park) from 2018-2022, he allegedly failed to convene public meetings or inform the community.

Another was that he refused to meet with registered community organisations regarding their concerns.

He was further accused of manipulating ward committee elections from January-March 2022 and that he allegedly created the perception of controlling City EPWP appointments from 2016-2021, favoring certain workers and telling residents he would ensure their appointments. 

The councillor was also accused of misusing the Downberg Sports Field use since 2020 and favoring a resident.

Another was that he allegedly despised the Community Policing Forum (CPF) and labelled them as drug addicts or gang members and failed to support residents and organisations.

It was further alleged that he pressured a female Hanover Park resident for sexual/intimate physical acts or inappropriately touched/held/kissed her, promising employment with City of Cape Town Law Enforcement, thus using his councillor position to obtain sexual favors.

According to the report, the committee could not find him in breach or guilty of any of the allegations either due to a lack of evidence or because there were no witnesses present.

The community had enlisted multiple grievances against Van der Rheede.

Van der Rheede did not respond to requests for comment when approached by the Cape Argus on Thursday.

A community representative, Roberto Stemmet, of the Hanover Park Residents Against Crime and Gangsterism, who was part of the group who enlisted grievances and was supposed to testify as a witness, said they were disappointed.

“We tabled 20 grievances to the City of Cape Town in 2022,” he said.

“What is detrimental, when the ward councillor does not involve the community in meetings and engagements, how is he making decisions?

“We have a ward councillor that is working in isolation, selecting a handful of people appointing his own ward committee controversially."

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Cape Argus