A battle over the single parliamentary seat of the Peace and Justice Congress (PJC) is headed for the Cape High Court amid claims of inappropriate behaviour and a charge of fraud, barely three months after the political party was started.
Parliament was drawn into the dispute this week when Farouk Cassim, the PJC’s sole parliamentary representative, relinquished his seat after Speaker Frene Ginwala was told of his expulsion from the party.
The dispute has also affected the list of candidates to fill the vacancy. PJC leader Rashad Khan said all five on the list, including Cassim’s daughter Shenaz, were expelled from the party because they were not duly signed-up members.
Khan claims the list was submitted to Parliament without the party’s knowledge and that a new list has subsequently been submitted.
But now Parliament is in a pickle. The floor-crossing legislation, which gave rise to several baby parties in March, is silent on what should be done in such a case. And the defection law does not expressly provide for the possibility of amending the list of candidates to fill parliamentary vacancies.
This week Khan made preparations to ask the Cape High Court for an order to allow the speaker to accept the new list of candidates.
At the same time Cassim — a former Inkatha Freedom Party member who frequently chaired National Assembly proceedings — prepared to challenge his expulsion in court.
A factor at the centre of the dispute appears to be the relationship between the PJC and the three-year old NGO, the Peace and Justice Movement. Khan, Mogamat Tape Isaacs and Mohammed Tahir Toffie who are leaders of the NGO and founding members of the PJC, are also the top three names on the list to fill the vacancies in Parliament.
The trio also head the 55-strong membership list submitted to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) that features several members of Cassim’s family.
Cassim is clearly disappointed at the way things turned out. ”Everything looks different in hindsight,” he said and vowed to fight his expulsion.
Cassim claims he had not been informed of the meeting at which his expulsion was decided, nor given an opportunity to present his case.
He also dismissed as nonsense the fraud charges related to the misuse of parliamentary monies. Cassim, who is considering legal steps for defamation, explained the money — R 21 000 for each of April and May — had been used to run the PJC parliamentary offices.
But Khan maintained Cassim had ”abandoned the party by action”, including challenging its principles, including the return of the death penalty and the abolition of interest payments.
Khan maintained that Cassim had, without the party’s approval, opened a new bank account, drafted a new party constitution, decided on his constituency office and called a general meeting for Saturday.
Cassim said the meeting would go ahead and he was prepared to answer all questions about the dispute in public.
But Khan said the meeting would not go ahead: ”We cannot give credibility to such a meeting.”
This battle is the latest in a spate of political court cases brought before the Cape High Court, most of which arose from the acrimonious break-up of the Democratic Alliance 18 months ago.
In May New National Party member Audrey van Zyl successfully obtained a ruling that her party had erred in the way it removed her from the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) — through a motion of no confidence in the Western Cape legislature.
Van Zyl is currently trying to return to Parliament, but her seat has fallen away since the defection period led to a reconstitution of the NCOP. The incumbent holds the seat courtesy of the NNP-African National Congress cooperation pact.
Meanwhile, Saturday will mark the inaugural congress of the Independent Democrats, formed by former Pan Africanist Congress member Patricia de Lille during the floor-crossing defection period.
With about 18 000 members countrywide, the congress will formally elect an executive with De Lille as leader and start the process of canvassing members’ input into party policies.
These issues are expected to be finalised during a three-month-long road show during which time De Lille will launch structures in each of the nine provinces.
”This is the beginning. In all major journeys, there’s always a first step,” said De Lille. ”There are many sceptics who says it’s impossible. I say it’s difficult, but not impossible.”