Max begins elective congress challenge
A DISGRUNTLED Lennit Max has put his plan in motion to challenge the DA Western Cape congress where he lost to Bonginkosi Madikizela in a hotly contested leadership battle.
The DA MPL had made known his intention just after the October leadership congress that he would appeal the outcome.
He is upset with a number of discrepancies and voter numbers not adding up.
James Selfe, a DA MP and chair of the federal executive, told the Cape Argus yesterday that Max lodged his appeal on Tuesday.
“Mr Max lodged his appeal yesterday. After considering it, I decided to refer the matter to the Federal Legal Commission (FLC). It would not be appropriate for me to comment further since the investigation by the FLC will commence shortly, and this will traverse many of the issues raised,” Selfe said.
Max initially gave the DA leaders a week to explain what he termed discrepancies in the voting results for the provincial leader.
The biggest issue was that none of the numbers added up and the figures given to the media were different to that given to party members.
Max will still head to the Western Cape High Court to seek an annulment of the congress and the voting results which he requested to finalise his internal appeal.
At the congress it was announced that 84% of the eligible voters of 1 175 had turned up to vote. This translates into 987 eligible voters. Max agreed with this figure.
However, Annelie Lotriet, presiding officer at the congress, said that 992 delegates were registered to vote on the day. There were 43 special votes and 13 spoilt ballots, Lotriet said.
She said Madikizela got 510 votes and Max 494.
A second set of results was circulating, with the DA claiming Max got only 493 votes, that there were 1 035 ballots and 1 017 votes were cast.
However, Lotriet appeared to have been confused with her own figures when confronted with questions over the disparities. Max has been told not to talk to the media until the probe was completed.
Sources close to the probe said there were many discrepancies and problems with the votes. Many people not at the conference were allowed to vote and the early votes were also problematic, the source said. The DA would announce further details on the probe soon.