The Democratic Alliance is facing a legal battle after three of its members from the Western Cape filed a court application challenging the legality of the party’s cessation clause, which saw their membership terminated.
In court papers filed this month, three councillors from the province’s Swellendam local municipality have argued that the party’s federal council chair Helen Zille had no legal basis to terminate their membership.
The applicants – former deputy mayor Abraham Pokwas, former speaker Bongani Sonqwenqwe, and councillor Gcobisa Mangcu-Qotyiwe – were kicked out of the party and their council positions after the DA found that they had voted against a decision about a vacancy for a manager for corporate and legal services.
The councillors were accused of going against the party caucus, which had decided against voting to advertise the post.
In his founding affidavit, Pokwas said that the party did not provide them an opportunity to make their representation in respect to the charges, adding that this constituted a material breach of the fundamental principle of natural justice and demonstrated abuse of the party’s cessation clause.
Pokwas defended the decision to vote against the party decision, saying that the initial decision was to vote to advertise the vacancy, but that at the 11th hour mayor Francois du Rand called a select few members of the caucus to reverse that decision.
They claim that with Zille’s support, Du Rand managed to get majority support for his position.
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Lizeka Tandwa
Lizeka Tandwa is a political journalist with a keen interest in local government.
