Ex-DA 5: ‘How JP bullied us’

City caucus leader accused of victimisation in De Lille ousting

THE five former DA councillors who quit last Thursday have fingered city caucus leader JP Smith in victimising those who voted against ousting executive mayor Patricia de Lille.

Party federal executive chairperson James Selfe, however, did nothing about it when it was reported to him, according to former chief whip Shaun August, one of the five.

August yesterday released a complaint and letter he said he sent to Selfe regarding councillors’ concerns of victimisation after their voting against a motion of no confidence in De Lille.

August, along with mayoral committee members Siyabulela Mamkeli and Suzette Little, as well as councillors Greg Bernado and Thulani van der Stemela, resigned from the DA crying racism.

August said after the motion Smith requested the voting record from speaker Dirk Smit, which was provided.

“According to the speaker’s email, Ald Smith was the only person to request the voting record. (The speaker, unprecedentedly, emailed the voting record to all party whips the following day).

“The conduct of obtaining the voting record and distributing it in a manner that led to victimisation, and/or was intended to victimise councillors based on how they exercised their free conscience vote is conduct that violates the principles of the DA,” August said.

Smith said he had been asked by the caucus executive to get the record so they could check whether the votes were tallied correctly.

“We were not clear on whether the system had worked properly, so I had been asked to get the voting record to see if all the councillors’ votes had been correctly recorded,” Smith said.

Questions sent to Selfe were answered by Thomas Walters, deputy chairperson of the Federal Council. He said the complaint, as well as others (both against and by August), were referred back to “the relevant executive”, in this case, the caucus executive of which August was charged in terms of his duties.

“The purpose of this exercise was to first restore our disciplinary procedure that was being undermined and as an attempt to identify which complaints were frivolous and which could be mediated. It was clear that Shaun August did not co-operate with this process despite his initial agreement and I was in the process of entering the matter as a mediator (again with unanimous agreement) when Shaun August left the party,” Walters said.

August said it was dishonest for Walters to say the complaints were referred to the caucus executive, as they never received a response to any of the complaints laid with Selfe, other than that a mediation process would occur.

Meanwhile, DA federal council deputy chairperson Natasha Mazzone said Smit laid criminal charges against De Lille and Transport mayco member Brett Herron, which stemmed from an independent investigation led by Bowmans Gilfillan.

Mazzone said DA lawyers had written to De Lille’s lawyers, saying they expected her to vacate the mayoral office today.

De Lille’s spokesperson Zara Nicholson said De Lille would address the media this afternoon.

Herron said he consistently denied any role in procurement and evidence showed that.

“I welcome the submission of the reports to the SAPS for further assessment. It will not be the first time the NPA throws out a dippy allegation. I’m surprised by the haste with which the speaker acted, especially since it is unclear from the Bowmans report what crime I have committed,” Herron said.