The newly formed National People’s Party (NPP) on Thursday claimed that five former members of the Independent Democrats (ID) had crossed the floor, bringing their Cape Town metro seats with them.
However, the ID said two of the five — Abdulla Omar and Aaron Kallie — were expelled from the party before the floor-crossing window opened.
Omar’s internal appeal will be heard on Friday, while it was understood Kallie had not appealed his expulsion.
Another of those on the NPP list, Georgina Sass, had described the announcement of her defection as ”a blatant lie”, ID secretary general Haniff Hoosen said.
And Nozizwe Dase, also listed, had requested an urgent meeting on Thursday afternoon ”to clear the air”.
Omar, Kallie and the fifth person on the NPP list, Lungiswa Sidinana, were at an NPP media briefing at a city hotel on Thursday morning.
NPP chief executive Faried Stemmet told the briefing that the names of the five had been handed to the Independent Electoral Commission and were ”signed, sealed and delivered”.
”We will look after them till death do us part,” he said.
He said Sass and Dase were unable to be at the briefing for personal reasons.
Stemmet also said the deputy mayor of the Winelands district municipality, Arrie Krotz, and former deputy mayor of Drakenstein, Jacqueline Noland, had also crossed from the ID.
The ID also said it had expelled Noland, but Stemmet said she had not received any notification of this.
”Suddenly the stillborn has become a baby; the baby is crawling,” Stemmet said of the new party. ”The baby will walk by the 15th of September.”
Asked about the NPP’s chances of making a difference in the metro, he said Wednesday’s defection to the African National Congress of Democratic Alliance provincial stalwarts Kent Morkel and Kobus Brynard showed there were cracks in the DA.
”The iron lady is not so strong anymore,” he said in a reference to DA leader and city mayor Helen Zille.
The NPP would let the media know the moment it achieved the 10% threshold of floor-crossers from the DA.
Speaking at an ID press conference, Hoosen said it should be asked why almost all of the councillors Sasman announced had joined the NPP could not make their press conference for ”personal reasons”.
”The NPP has embarked on a deliberate misinformation campaign, claiming to have councillors when they actually do not.
”The main aim is to sow confusion and division among other political parties to feed their sinister motives. Once again they have attempted to bluff the media,” he said.
”To see how badly the NPP has poisoned politics in the Western Cape, you only need to look at their leadership.”
Stemmet appeared to be ”moonlighting”. ID information showed she was not only CE of the NPP, but also a state prosecutor in George.
Hoosen called on the National Prosecuting Authority to investigate the matter.
Sasman himself had been ”miraculously healed of his Agoraphobia the second he lost his case” against the ID.
”Sasman now has no problem with addressing press conferences, in spite of an earlier fear of crowds.”
Hoosen also pointed out that Noland and Krotz had been expelled from the ID.
Meanwhile, it emerged at the press conference that ID mayor of Oudtshoorn Jeff Swartbooi has laid charges of intimidation against the NPP.
Swartbooi said he and some of the ID’s six other councillors had received threatening phone calls ”day and night” and continuous visits from certain individuals attempting to bribe them into crossing the floor.
However, the six councillors remained resolute and would not abandon their party, he said. — Sapa