BLONDE AMBITION
Why DA black caucus is seeing red
● A senior DA leader is threatening to take the party to court after his opponent was appointed to a position without an election being held for the particular post.
Gauteng MPL Khume Ramulifho confirmed he had written to the party’s federal council chairman, James Selfe, challenging the installation of MP Natasha Mazzone to the recently created position of second deputy federal chairperson.
This is the first major fallout in the party after it held its national congress last weekend, at which party leader Mmusi Maimane was re-elected unopposed.
Ramulifho is associated with a group known as the black caucus, which is pushing for transformation in the DA. The group has recently been at odds with the leadership of the DA, which appears to be content with the status quo within the party.
Mazzone was appointed second deputy chairperson on Thursday following a decision by the party’s federal legal commission.
At last weekend’s congress, she was in the running against Ramulifho, Mohammed Hoosen and Thomas Walters for the position of deputy federal council chairperson.
Walters won. However, the congress amended the party’s constitution on the same day, a few hours after voting concluded, to create the position of second deputy.
During this amendment, Ramulifho argued successfully that the conference should resolve that an election for the new position be held at the federal council meeting.
He argued against using the results of the first deputy federal chairperson election to hand the new position to the runner-up.
But Thursday’s ruling, which installed Mazzone, did exactly that.
Ramulifho said he had written to Selfe to voice his unhappiness with the decision as, according to his understanding, the DA conference was the party’s highest decision-making body.
“[I] was shocked to note that a matter referred to federal council was decided by the federal legal commission. There is no structure or body with powers to overturn any decision taken by the federal congress,” said Ramulifho.
It was shocking that a body with the mandate to interpret and ensure that all members adhered to the party’s constitution could arrive at such a conclusion, he said.
“This is a matter of principle and must be defended at all cost.
“If the constitution was approved on Saturday before voting on Sunday, it was not going to be an issue, but delegates voted before the amendment to have two deputies was adopted.”
He said that when voting took place at the congress, the DA had no position of second deputy.
Ramulifho, who is out of the country, said he would meet his legal team about the matter tomorrow.
A copy of the ruling to install Mazzone shows that she, together with MP Kevin Mileham, had raised an objection to the conference resolution which allowed for a fresh election for the new position.
In its ruling, the federal legal commission said that although the new position had not been created when voting took place, this was immaterial as the DA federal council had decided that the vote would proceed pending the amendment.
The commission said the congress was the “supreme policy-making and governing body of the party responsible for all aspects of policy, organisation, finance and discipline. In this regard it must firstly be confirmed that the vote in question did not relate to either policy, finance or discipline.”
On Friday Selfe confirmed that Ramulifho had written to him raising his grievance and objecting to the decision. But, he said, Ramulifho had not indicated that he was going to take the matter to court.
“He is free to take the matter to court. I don’t think he will be successful. It would be very unfortunate if he did that. I think that the federal legal commission has given a very carefully reasoned ruling, which quotes a lot of case law,” said Selfe.
He said the federal legal commission consisted of three members qualified in law who had deliberated on the matter before they made a decision.
“I am sure [the matter] can be resolved in a way that doesn’t involve a court case.” He said the rulings of the commission were final and the only recourse would be to take the matter to court.
Mazzone said Ramulifho was welcome to take the matter to court.
“I do find it quite interesting that Khume forms part of the federal council that discussed this issue at length on Friday April 6. Khume also sat through an entire 45 minutes of the presiding officer explaining the voting procedure that would take place to congress and never raised his concerns,” she said.
Ramulifho had only raised his concerns at the conference on Sunday, she said, but she believed that if he really had a problem, he should have raised the matter with the conference’s presiding officer.