HOWARD BARRELL, BARRY STREEK AND MARIANNE MERTEN, Johannesburg, Cape Town | Friday
CAPE Town mayor Peter Marais faces expulsion from the Democratic Alliance and the party’s deputy leader, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, will face disciplinary action if they fail to back down in their confrontation with DA leader Tony Leon.
Leon is willing to risk the break-up of the DA and lose control of the Western Cape and Cape Town, rather than compromise on his promise to offer voters clean government and principled opposition to the African National Congress. He now sees Marais and his principal backer, Van Schalkwyk, who led the New National Party into the DA last year, as obstacles to his project.
Leon’s Democratic Party, which is the largest component of the DA, believes it is fighting off a carefully orchestrated attempt by Van Schalkwyk and a group of NNP leaders to take over the DA.
Scores of DA councillors from NNP backgrounds across the country were fearful this week that Van Schalkwyk’s hard line in defence of Marais’s position as mayor of Cape Town would mean the break-up of the DA and their losing their local government seats.
A number of senior NNP MPs and members of provincial legislatures have also privately expressed deep political concern at Van Schalkwyk’s strategy.
Leon alleged this week that Van Schalkwyk’s “lieutenants have intimidated and threatened any NNP MP or member of a provincial legislature who hesitates to give him unconditional support”.
It has emerged, meanwhile, that former president FW de Klerk met with Leon and Van Schalkwyk over dinner last month to cool rising temperatures in the DA over Marais’s conduct and performance as mayor.
According to Dave Steward, De Klerk’s representative, “There wasn’t any crisis then. There was a very good atmosphere, as I understand it.”
On Thursday, however, Leon and Van Schalkwyk issued fresh, ringing denunciations of each other. Leon issued a four-page rebuttal of earlier allegations against him by Van Schalkwyk, and Van Schalkwyk responded a few hours later at similar length.
Leon also sent Marais a letter this week stating that on Friday he would introduce a motion at a meeting of the national management committee requiring him to step down “forthwith” as mayor of Cape Town and, if he failed to do so, terminating his membership of the DA “forthwith”. The letter was copied to Van Schalkwyk.
If Marais’s membership of the DA were to be terminated, Marais would not be able to continue as mayor of Cape Town. Leon is known to have retained the services of two very senior Cape Town advocates to advise him on the procedural and legal aspects of his battle with Marais and Van Schalkwyk.
The DP has a majority on the national management committee of the DA and also on the latter party’s dispute resolution mechanism.
It is understood that Leon and those DA members siding with him are considering bringing disciplinary action against Van Schalkwyk as well. But this is unlikely to happen until next week.
Leon said to the media on Thursday: “A number of DA members and representatives have put it to me that they wish to bring disciplinary proceedings against Van Schalkwyk. In addition, members of the DA caucus indicated that they wished to move a motion of no confidence in Van Schalkwyk at the caucus meeting. I felt that this would not be helpful and requested that the caucus meeting be postponed.”
Leon’s statement contained an account of Van Schalkwyk’s manoeuvring over the Marais affair that could severely damage the NNP leader. Leon said that on or about August 31 Van Schalkwyk had told Leon that he had a “solution” to the problem posed by Marais. He said that Van Schalkwyk had told him that Western Cape Premier Gerald Morkel was “too weak to control Marais and that Premier Morkel was really better suited to being Mayor [of Cape Town] than to being premier”.
Leon said that Van Schalkwyk had then argued that Marais could best be “kept under control” if he was removed as mayor of Cape Town and placed in the provincial cabinet – but only if he, Van Schalkwyk, not Morkel, was appointed premier of the Western Cape and, so, head of the provincial cabinet.
Leon added in his statement: “It is well known that, in the following weeks, Van Schalkwyk sent representatives to Morkel to advise him that he [Van Schalkwyk] had lost confidence in [Morkel’s] ability to continue as premier and that he should stand down, both as leader of the NNP in the Western Cape and as premier. [Van Schalkwyk] told me on or about September 10, while I was in Canberra, Australia, that he thought his solution was possible and looked promising. However, in the event, Morkel refused to stand down and [Van Schalkwyk’s] plan went awry.”
DA members from DP backgrounds view this manoeuvre by Van Schalkwyk as an important element in a deliberate plan to mount a “reverse takeover of the DA”.
They allege another element of the plan was to recruit members of the NNP throughout the country, including by fraudulent means, so that the party would be in a clear majority when the first national DA congress was held next year.
Leon added on Thursday: “Clearly these events show that the issue here is not Marais at all, but rather the position of Van Schalkwyk and a few others in the NNP.
“It is deeply unfortunate that a small faction within the NNP is holding hostage the bulk of the party. I have come to know, respect and admire many of the NNP representatives and members I lead in the DA. I share their concern at the implications of the way in which the Marais saga is being misused.”
Leon condemned secret talks between Van Schalkwyk’s faction and the ruling African National Congress.
“There is nothing more destructive of the opposition project in South Africa than a willingness to make an alliance with the ANC,” he said. “The fact that an element in the NNP are prepared to do so proves beyond any shadow of doubt that the issue at stake here is not one of principle, but one of positions, privilege and perks.”
Leon said: “I wish to make it absolutely clear that the consequences of [Van Schalkwyk’s] behaviour constitute a direct breach of faith with the people who gave their support to the DA in December last year and could cause hundreds of DA councillors to lose their seats and hence their ability to represent the people who elected them.
“I remain committed to the DA and the opposition cause in deed and in word. I believe the majority of the supporters of the DA want true democracy based on principled opposition and fair dealing. I believe the majority of DA public representatives, from all three components, want the DA to continue in its mission to build a counterweight to ANC hegemony and excess,” Leon said.
“I will not allow anything or anyone to place their personal interests above the cause of principled opposition in South Africa. I will do whatever it takes to ensure that the purpose and mission of the opposition in our country is protected and advances. That is my position, and it will not be altered. The DA must succeed,” Leon added.
At a press conference a few hours after Leon’s, Van Schalkwyk rejected Leon’s allegations against him and said the alliance needed “wise men and women” to help it in the interests of multiparty democracy. He suggested that a different modality to the alliance concept be attempted to unite opposition parties. But he had no concrete suggestions on what that might be.
At the same conference, Marais said: “I don’t know what the charge is. I don’t know what I’ve done wrong.
“I must get this off my chest. I may not have a chest tomorrow”.
He blamed the public rift in the alliance about his position on DP spin doctor Ryan Coetzee. “When Coetzee had to leave the employ of the city [as consultant], my shares fell quicker than those of Eastern countries.”
Marais recalled the times Leon praised him on public platforms for delivering free basic water and electricity. There was even written praise – a letter sent after Cape Town beat Johannesburg and Durban to an international award. “I’ve got the in my possession. I’m gonna frame it.”
Marais insisted all his “embarrassments” were related to a DP plot to oust him. “Whenever some thing goes wrong I’m responsible. That’s why I say I’m a responsible mayor.”
Marais said the missing ingredient in the DA had always been “trust and love”.
In a further statement late on Thursday afternoon Leon said: “Van Schalkwyk’s choice is simple: either he accepts the authority of the DA and honours the agreement into which he entered last year, or he does not. Those are his options. My position remains clear: the authority of the DA is not divisible. The Constitution which governs the DA will determine the way in which this matter is resolved.”