Johannesburg - The ousting of Joburg council speaker Vasco da Gama of the DA has left members of the multiparty coalition with trust issues, with leaders within ActionSA and other coalition members going on a political witch-hunt.
After Da Gama’s departure from the speaker’s office, The Star understands that the DA had issued an instruction to leaders of coalition parties. The instruction was that leaders should discipline members suspected to be voting with the opposition bloc.
This saw an ActionSA councillor providing a sworn affidavit at the Hillbrow police station claiming that he was offered a bribe to vote with the opposition. Another IFP member also made similar claims, saying that he was offered R100 000.
The cherry on top came when ActionSA caucus leader Funzi Ngobeni and his senate issued a notice to members that one of their councillors in the City of Johannesburg, Albert Kiviet was kicked out of the party for not pitching on the day Da Gama was voted out of his position.
In a statement, Ngobeni said Kiviet, who stars in local drama Skeem Saam, had not explained why he was not present on the day Da Gama was voted out. The party accused Kiviet of violating party rules and council responsibility.
“His absence violated the ActionSA constitution and the caucus rules. While his absence did not have any material impact on the outcome of council, his continued refusal to provide reasons for his absence from the meeting have made his continued participation in caucus untenable as we have been forced to assume that he absconded from council for nefarious reasons,” Ngobeni said.
The Star understands that Kiviet failed to provide reasons he should not be kicked out of the party.
“On the 2nd of September 2022, Mr Kiviet was sent a letter requiring him to furnish reasons why his membership should not be terminated. He elected not to furnish the party with reasons why his membership should not be terminated,” Ngobeni said.
ActionSA has issued a stern warning to other party members who were tempted to violate party rules and side with the opposition.
The Star had contacted Kiviet for a comment on his dismissal and this is what he had to say: “My dismissal was purely for non compliance in terms of what was expected of me as a councillor to do. Before I became a politician I am a professional actor so it clashed and I was on shoot and I did not attend for those two days and it clashed. So Action SA was within their rights.”
Meanwhile, opposition parties in the City of Johannesburg said they were appalled by the allegations of bribery made by the coalition partners. The opposition bloc said they would await investigations into the matter by law enforcement.
The Star