DA expels MP De Freitas over financial misconduct
● Long-serving DA MP Manny de Freitas was last month expelled from the party after pleading guilty to financial misconduct for opening a bank account for his constituency, in breach of the party’s finance policies.
Well-placed officials in the DA told the Sunday Times that De Freitas, who has served as the party’s transport & tourism shadow minister, was fired after he pleaded guilty before the DA’s federal legal commission for breaching a party funding policy.
The party did not publicly communicate its decision to axe De Freitas leading to claims that it was covering for him because of his close relationship with DA leader John Steenhuisen.
But DA national spokesperson Solly Malatsi denied this. “Yes, Mr de Freitas’s membership was terminated after pleading guilty to violating the DA’s federal finance policy,” Malatsi said.
He added that termination of membership was the highest possible sanction for any violation of the DA’s constitution, regulations and policies.
“The innuendo relating to Mr De Freitas’s friendship with John Steenhuisen has no basis in fact,” Malatsi said.
The party’s federal legal commission charged De Freitas after a complaint by Tsepo Mhlongo, then a DA MP and head of its Soweto constituency, who claimed De Freitas had siphoned funds from his Joburg South constituency to fund Steenhuisen’s internal campaign for the party leader position in 2020.
But insiders say the federal legal commission did not investigate that claim, instead charging De Freitas for opening a bank account, which goes against party policies.
De Freitas allegedly denied doing so but later pleaded guilty when he was confronted with evidence of the bank account. He was found guilty of opening the account and for lying about it, said an insider with knowledge of the developments.
Mhlongo was expelled by the DA in December for “cooking the books” on his performance in his now failed bid to return to parliament.
Despite being expelled, De Freitas continued to participate in party activities, including its voter registration drive last weekend.
In a letter to his DA colleagues dated February 1, he wrote that he would not be standing as a candidate in the upcoming election so that he could “pursue other activities and interests”. He cited poor health and “other issues, particularly in the past 18 months” for contributing to his decision.
“However, as some of you may know, since near the end of the Covid lockdown I have been befallen with a number of health and other issues, particularly in the past 18 months. Despite going through the selection process, I have since introspected as to whether I would enjoy another five years in parliament should I be electable.
“I am therefore advising you that I have decided not to stand again ... so that I can pursue other activities and interests. I remain committed to the values and principles of the party and believe that the DA is the vehicle to get our beautiful country out of the mess created by the ANC,” he said.
De Freitas served as a DA public representative for 29 years, his letter shows.
Among the individuals he continues to admire, he listed former Democratic Party (the DA’s predecessor) leader Zach de Beer and former DA leaders Tony Leon, Helen Zille and the incumbent “my dear friend and (now leader) John Henry Steenhuisen”.
De Freitas also mentions his fight against corruption in the state.
“During my years as a public representative, I have exposed corruption in all spheres of government where I served, these include the office of the then Gauteng premier Sam Shilowa, as well as the departments of housing, transport, home affairs and tourism,” he wrote.
Citing his achievements in the party, De Freitas said: “In my Joburg South constituency, to which I was allocated in 1999, I inherited a constituency with literally no structures and only three active members (with the rest all being ‘paper branches’ and ‘paper members’) with only two PR councillors.
“By the following year in the 2000 local government elections all of the five wards in the constituency became DA wards with the worst result being 65% in ward 57, won by the late Mariette Hanekom,” he wrote. “Since then, Joburg South has been built to such a point where today it is the constituency with the most members in Johannesburg and the fourth-biggest constituency in Gauteng.”
De Freitas did not respond to a request for comment.