The former Western Cape leader of the Independent Democrats, Lennit Max, won a high court order on Wednesday preventing the party from filling his seat in the provincial legislature.
Judge Dennis Davis also declared that Max’s expulsion from the party, ordered after an internal disciplinary hearing, be suspended until his appeal is finalised.
The appeal is due to be heard by the party’s national executive on Wednesday afternoon, but Max’s legal team is to go back to court before then to seek an interdict against it.
If Max hangs on to his seat until midnight, he will be able to cross the floor in the window period that begins then, and take his seat with him.
It has been widely rumoured he intends defecting to the Democratic Alliance.
Max was found guilty in the disciplinary hearing of contravening the party’s code of conduct. – Sapa