Membership chaos rocks DA in Gauteng

Confidential audit says mismanagement is ‘major risk’ to party

A confidential DA internal audit report has lifted the lid on the shambolic state of the party’s membership management in Gauteng, where it is due to elect new leaders in a fortnight.

The report has also revealed alleged mismanagement of membership fees involving almost R80 000.

The investigation, which was completed in June, found that the financial and membership mismanagement “may have an adverse effect on the DA and should be considered a major risk”. It has not been released outside party structures.

There is no indication that any money has been misappropriated, but the report is being used against Gauteng leader John Moodey, who hopes to be re-elected.

He is being challenged by MP Ghaleb Cachalia in the leadership election.

Political commentator Ralph Mathekga said the main challenge for the DA was how to maintain internal coherence as it heads to the 2019 elections.

“Quite often recently the party’s internal processes, including mediation processes, have come under strain as the party is evolving and increasing its membership,” he said.

“The DA seems to be growing into the black middle class, the group it needs [if it is] to perform better in 2019, but there seems to be lapses in its internal processes.”

Mathekga said the lapses reflected badly on the party as a clean alternative to the ANC. “Winning Gauteng in 2019 is critical to the DA. If they fail, their next opportunity could be far away,” he said.

The report, detailing one of the worst membership and financial scandals in the party’s recent history, means that the validity of current DA structures in Gauteng is in question. Findings include:

The membership administration staff “are unable to provide a valid and accurate stock control of the membership applications and books in the province”;

In all regions in Gauteng, there were members who indicated that councillors had paid their membership subscriptions. The payment of membership fees on behalf of others is against DA regulations;

Nearly 20% of Gauteng memberships, or 6 506, are considered invalid, which the report calls “a high number”;

As a result, some 112 branches in Gauteng cannot be regarded as properly constituted; and

The Gauteng DA fails to achieve a clean audit.

The report was compiled by Barnie Kruger, the party’s executive director for statutory obligations.

“I have failed to be presented with such leadership that ensures that the membership administration is carried out effectively,” he said. “This creates a risk for the DA as a whole, as the party is considered a party of process, leadership and good governance. All these things were lacking.”

The report said the risks associated with the financial mismanagement will have a dire effect on the party in the province. There was no proper control of membership books, which created both a financial risk and the risk of invalid branches being formed, because one such book contained enough membership forms to constitute a branch.

In reaction, Moodey said that much as the provincial DA leadership took joint responsibility for the problems, membership was handled at a regional level and all mistakes had been corrected.

“The audit does not differ much from the findings in other provinces, all of which suffered because we had not audited membership for two and a half years, focusing on the 2014 and 2016 elections,” he said.

“The aim of internal audits is to correct. This we have done. Branches have correctly held their AGMs, which is why we can have our provincial congress on November 18,” he said.