The leader of the opposition Independent Democrats (ID), Patricia de Lille, has denied any link between her party and the alleged Western Cape crime syndicate leader, Quinton Marinus, rejecting claims in media reports on Wednesday that Marinus had donated R300Â 000 to the ID, as alleged by former party member Lennit Max.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, De Lille said that some recent media reports had also cast doubt on her integrity, and she wished to deal with these perceptions in a forthright manner.
“I want to assure our supporters and the people of South Africa that the ID will never take money from criminals,” she noted.
“I’m proud of the record and commitment of the ID and [myself] as a leader in fighting crime and corruption in this country. Anyone who doubts this word should look at my record.
“I have recently opened my bank account and that of the ID to prove that we did not receive any money as alleged by Mr Max. I’m rather surprised that he should have made this allegation again as he did on Tuesday in an affidavit to the Cape High court when he applied in an urgent interdict to stop the ID from holding a disciplinary hearing scheduled for today [Wednesday].
“As reported today, Mr Marinus made available some taxis to help the ID ferry its supporters to the polling stations in Cape Town during our country’s third democratic election held on April 14 2004. Mr Marinus made the offer to us through music producer Mr El Etto on April 13. At the time I did not know who he was. Had I known, I would have declined his offer.”
De Lille went on to explain that she had been introduced to Marinus on the day before the elections, when he had offered to help organise some taxis to transport voters to polling stations. Marinus had then been referred to Max, with whom he had dealt directly.
“As a former police commissioner in the Western Cape I would have thought Mr Max should surely have known who Mr Marinus was. As a loyal and disciplined member of the ID, [as] he claims to be, I would have expected him to have warned the party of Mr Marinus’s alleged criminal links.
“However, as a party leader I accept full responsibility. It was an error of judgement, executed on the eve of the election, which we were contesting for the first time as a newly formed political party.
De Lille added that, for the record, Max had voluntarily resigned as ID leader in the Western Cape on November 4 last year. His resignation was accepted by the caucus on November 26 last year.
Max applied to the Cape High Court on Tuesday to order the ID to cancel his disciplinary hearing. The court separated the disciplinary hearing, which is the ID’s internal process, and Max’s court application.
The ID will go ahead with the disciplinary hearing as scheduled for February 1, De Lille confirmed. However, none of these events will have an impact on the party’s provincial congress scheduled for January 22, she added. – I-Net Bridge