Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon has scoffed at suggestions that the party’s newly-elected Tafelsig ward councillor Sheval Arendse be suspended.
Briefing the media at Parliament after Wednesday’s by-election, Leon said he was unaware of any charges against Arendse.
People could also not be held accountable for ”what their spouses do”, he said.
A prominent example of this principle was disgraced former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni, whose wife Lumka was now an ANC MP in the
National Assembly.
However Arendse, like any other DA public representative, was subject to party discipline, rules and conduct, and appropriate action would be taken if necessary, Leon said.
According to media reports, Arendse’s wife has allegedly been illegally drawing a child support grant.
Independent Democrats Cape Town metro leader Simon Grindrod has called on Mayor Helen Zille to suspend Arendse pending the outcome of a social welfare department investigations into the matter.
Grindrod said it was inconceivable that Arendse did not know his wife had been claiming the grant since 2001.
”I challenge Helen Zille to follow through on her promises of a clean administration and suspend Sheval Arendse pending the outcome of the official investigation,” Grindrod said.
Arendse was elected on an ID ticket during the March municipal elections, but resigned and joined the DA after his party backed the ANC in the city council.
He scored a runaway victory in Wednesday’s by-election, taking 67,9% of the vote (3 870 votes) against the ID’s 29,5% (1 683 votes).
The ANC did not field a candidate this time around, but in March it garnered 809 votes (13,6%), the ID 2 300 votes (38,7%), and the DA 2 204 votes (37,1%).
At the media briefing, Leon said, in absolute terms the DA won 1 666 more votes than it did on March 1, while the ID lost 617 votes, despite the fact that the ANC declined to field a candidate and threw its weight behind the ID.
The poll was also exceptionally high for a municipal by-election.
”Opposition voters want a clear alternative to the ANC. They do not want a party that tucks itself into the slipstream of the ANC. They do not want a party that tries to split the difference between the ANC and the opposition. They want a clear alternative. They want clear blue water, they want a choice, not an echo,” Leon said.
Grindrod said in a statement, as a young political party, the ID had gained invaluable experience in the by-election.
”Our team has become stronger and more unified as a result. We may have lost this battle, but we will win the war against poverty and racism,” he said.
ANC wins KZN by-election
The ANC won the by-election at Shobashobane on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Thursday.
Thursday’s by-election saw the ANC winning 1 028 votes to the Inkatha Freedom Party’s 872.
Municipal electoral officer Sibusiso Cele said that of about 4 000 people who had registered, more than half turned up on voting day.
The by-election comes after previous ANC councillor Zakhele Cele was shot dead after being elected earlier this year.
The SABC reported Sibusiso Cele as saying there was a high security presence during and after the voting process, and no problems were reported.
By-elections were also held in five other wards in the province. The ANC won at Manguzi, Mshwati and Creighton, while the Inkatha Freedom Party took the wards at Nquthu and in Ethekwini. – Sapa