We stand behind Joubert, a loyal community worker
WE, AS DA branch committees and activists, believe in the freedom, fairness and opportunity vision of the party. We love the DA and want to take forward. It was thus with utter dismay and disgust that we read in Die Burger on Thursday, April 26, about a pending motion of no confidence against the Speaker of Stellenbosch, councillor Donovan Joubert.
As DA activists, we believe this is totally unacceptable because nowhere during our LMC meetings did we as a constituency ever discuss or were informed about a pending motion of no confidence against our speaker. Our question is: who instated the motion of no confidence?
Joubert has worked closely with various community members in all areas. His commitment and loyalty know no boundaries when it comes to the plight of the poor or those left behind. He has done nothing to bring the party into disrepute and has worked tireless to improve people’s lives.
If this motion was sparked at municipal level, we were not made aware of.
Like member of the executive council, Bonginkosi Madikizela said on a previous occasions, certain things should not be kept secret from the public. We were kept in the dark on this matter. Therefore, we have embarked on a mission and started a door-to-door campaign and are circulating a petition against the motion of no confidence. We cannot allow people of this stature to be lost to our communities. We cannot also allow people with positions of power, some from other areas within the municipality, to decide on behalf of our poorer communities.
Going forward with the motion of no confidence against the speaker will have a negative impact on our communities and we are already facing many struggles in our efforts to take the DA forward.
We ask the responsible decision-makers to take this motion of confidence off the table and engage with us as DA activist to avoid any conflict.
We believe that if the speaker has done any wrong acts, then we should be made aware of these. If this motion was brought in a frivolous or vexatious manner, then we expect strong action against those who wanted to discredit one of our most respected leaders.
As activists, please keep us informed on decisions affecting us and our poor communities. It really leaves a sour taste in one’s mouth to learn of such things in the media. Do our efforts mean so little to the DA leadership or are we only good enough when votes are required?
We thank you kindly and we trust that the community request be taken into consideration and not just that of 23 councillors. We have some 1 300 petitions from ordinary citizens in Stellenbosch which we collected in four hours on Saturday morning.
Community members came out strongly in support of Joubert.
Community members of Stellenbosch are in total disagreement with the DA council caucus on this matter and are 100% behind Joubert. We want to reiterate that these councillors are acting without a mandate from the broader Stellenbosch community.
Please take appropriate disciplinary action against the ring leaders of this motion without substance.
Freedom, fairness and opportunity! Jacky Fortuin, Theressa Jonathan, Anne Nuade, Maurisha Manual, Sonia van Rooyen, Lameez de Klerk, Desmund Robyn, Zenobia Zas, Roderick Wentzel, Katrien Abrahams and Jehrusia Benecke