De Lille charges five DA members with fraud

Calls Mmusi Maimane, James Selfe hypocrites

FIVE DA senior members, including two MPs, face fraud charges for their part in distributing or sharing a fake auditor-general’s report.

This after ex-mayor Patricia de Lille lodged complaints against DA member Henk Hugo, DA KwaZulu-Natal deputy provincial chairperson Shehana Kajee, DA deputy chief whip Mike Waters and National Council of Provinces MP Bronwyn Engelbrecht at the Cape Town police station yesterday.

She said a formal complaint filed with the DA’s federal executive chairperson James Selfe in May went unanswered despite the five’s actions being in breach of the party’s constitution and its social media policy that members are required to adhere to, she said.

De Lille said she had decided to take this action because of the serious nature of the matter, as well as the total disregard and disrespect shown to the office of the AG.

“We need to challenge (Mmusi) Maimane, who always speaks about accountability, but he has failed to hold five senior DA members accountable and it shows the hypocrisy. Maimane and Selfe proclaim themselves to be constitutionalists but they are in fact hypocrites and did not respect Chapter 9 institutions,” she said.

De Lille said the DA had indicated that it was not necessary for its members to apologise and that once again its funders were committed to pay for further unwinnable court action.

The five members had ignored her deadline of October 18 to publicly apologise.

She later lodged a complaint with the office of Parliament Speaker Baleka Mbete against Waters and Engelbrecht, charging that their actions, were at odds with Parliament’s Code of Ethics by disrespecting a Chapter 9 institution.

Approached for comment Waters and Hugo responded with the same text message: “I note the charges laid by Ms Patricia De Lille and trust that the criminal justice system will run its course. I also look forward to the outcomes of the SAPS investigation into the criminal charges against Ms De Lille.”

Deputy chief of staff for Maimane’s office Graham Charters said: “Ms De Lille is no longer a DA Member. Her legal pursuits are hers alone. We wish her well in her future endeavours, and have no further comment.”