Cape Town - Provincial legislature Speaker Masizole Mnqasela says the filing of a no confidence motion against him by his own party, the DA, was strange as it came while he was sitting in a disciplinary process with the party on the issues of fraud and corruption addressed in the motion.
The motion was submitted on Friday and afterwards the DA said it had charged Mnqasela with misconduct and suspended him from all party activity.
At a news conference to address the issue, Mnqasela said the legislature had not received any complaints against him yet the DA motion, which cast aspersions on him, was worded as though there had been a decision by the legislature to remove him from office.
Mnqasela again said that the Hawks had yet to contact him about the corruption allegations levelled against him.
In July, DA provincial chairperson Jaco Londt announced that the DA’s Federal Legal Commission (FLC) had recommended that the speaker be charged with misconduct.
This followed an investigation stemming from protected disclosures by whistle-blowers alleging fraud and corruption relating to subsistence, travel and entertainment allowance claims by Mnqasela.
The DA Federal Executive accepted the FLC recommendation and Londt said the party had reported the matter to the Hawks for investigation under the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.
The DA also provided the Hawks with documentary evidence provided in the whistle-blower’s disclosures.
Yesterday, the leader of the provincial opposition, Cameron Dugmore (ANC), said the party’s chief whip had yet to receive any communication with regard to the no-confidence motion.
He said: “There is a programming committee on Tuesday and we will ask for clarity at that meeting.
“This ongoing fight within the DA continues to destabilise the legislature. Once we have clarity on whether a motion has been submitted, we will make a further comment.”
Last week, the DA bolstered its numbers in the legislature when it replaced MPL Lorraine Botha with its former permanent delegate to the national council of provinces (NCOP), Isaac Sileku.
The new MPL served as deputy mayor of the Theewaterskloof Municipality between 2016 and 2019 when the party sent him to the NCOP.
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za