Local councillors in the Western Cape claim they are victims of ”widescale intimidation” as the opportunity for them to cross the floor without losing their seats approaches.
”Since Monday this office has been informed of concerns by councillors in the Langeberg and Southern Cape regions” as well as the West Coast, said local government minister Marius Fransman during a media briefing.
Fransman, an African National Congress member, said six councillors affiliated to the Democratic Alliance have allegedly been intimidated by their party and instructed to sign letters of resignation before the floor-crossing legislation comes into effect at midnight on Tuesday.
Fransman said one councillor, Fred Carelse, refused to sign and even went to the Cape High Court to obtain an order preventing the DA continuing a disciplinary hearing against him without due process.
”His family is under emotional stress. He has 24-hour protection following [unspecified] threats. He is not sleeping at his own place and was taken out of town,” said Fransman.
Fransman said the alleged intimidation is serious in the Langeberg area, the constituency of DA leader Theuns Botha, where the 15-member council consists of eight DA and seven ANC members. Should a DA member defect to the ANC it could swing the balance of power and provide a psychological blow to the opposition.
Fransman said a task team chaired by advocate Denzil Potgieter will be asked to evaluate allegations of intimidation and report back by Thursday.
”[Potgieter] will look at the integrity of the legislation … and the need to protect the democratic decision of anyone” who wants to join another political party, said Fransman.
Fransman said he would have established a similar task team if the shoe was on the other foot and the ANC stood accused of intimidation, saying that he is ”dealing with a technicality and not a party political issue”.
Meanwhile, Western Cape DA leader Botha scoffed at the allegations, saying the party in general is not taking the crossover seriously.
”We are obviously trying to retain councillors but are not actively canvassing councillors [to remain in the DA fold]. We are not running after quantity, but quality,” he said.
Asked about the alleged instructions given to DA councillors to resign, Botha said this makes no sense, because if parties demand resignations they will eventually have no caucus.
On the Langeberg municipality, Botha said there was ”interaction” to retain members that ”definitely did not border on intimidation”.
Botha said Carelse has been in trouble with the DA since October 2003, and what happened recently was nothing more than a ”normal domestic disciplinary thing”.
”The ANC ran to the High Court and shot a fly with a cannon. It’s funny what they did,” said Botha. — Sapa