Africa-Press – South-Africa. ActionSA’s KwaZulu-Natal executive committee is in the process of appointing a replacement candidate who will contest for the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) chairperson position that is set to be left vacant after Makhosi Khoza’s exit.
The party on Tuesday terminated Khoza’s membership following a meeting of its senate on Monday night.
Michael Beaumont, ActionSA national chairperson, told New24 that the party had written to eThekwini council speaker Thabani Nyawose informing him of the party’s decision to terminate Khoza’s membership.
“This morning, we have written to the council speaker, informing him of the situation. As we speak right now, ActionSA’s provincial executive committee in KZN is deciding on who the replacement will be for Khoza.
“The way legislation is structured in SA, when you seize to be a member of a political party, you seize to hold the position of being a public representative for that party, in this case, the (MPAC) chairpersonship. That kind of position will then be the subject of another council vote, and that will depend on the number. ActionSA has no way of knowing how that would go,” said Beaumont.
When approached by News24 for comment, Khoza said ActionSA would have to answer the question of why she had lost the chairperson position.
She said:
She also claimed that she had heard about ActionSA’s decision through the media, and that no one from the party had approached her.
“Even the statement itself says that last night the party’s senate met, so if the decision was made last night, when would they have the chance to inform me? Also, yesterday was a holiday, so how am I supposed to know and process all this? Let me wait and see; maybe it’s going to come; I will meet with my lawyer and see what we will do,” said Khoza.
ActionSA terminates Makhosi Khoza’s membership following disciplinary committee meeting
Beaumont said communication was sent on Monday evening to both Khoza and her legal representatives, but Khoza disputed this, saying “he never communicated with me, he is telling lies, nobody has communicated with me.”
The eThekwini metro council elected Khoza as chairperson of the MPAC in December, a position that has always been occupied by a councillor from the governing party, the ANC.
The charges against Khoza included bringing the party into disrepute, deliberately acting in a way that negatively impacted the party, and acting in a manner that caused disunity in the party.
Beaumont said the evidence brought against her included numerous public statements and comments to the media, which were deemed to have been made with the intention of bringing ActionSA into disrepute.
A disciplinary panel, chaired by advocate Gill Benson, was convened and prosecuted by ActionSA’s Western Cape chairperson Vytjie Mentor.
According to Beaumont, ActionSA’s ethics and the disciplinary committee found Khoza guilty of all charges and recommended that her party membership be terminated.
“There is no reasonable explanation for her continued abuse of the party, which she purports to promote. As a high-standing member of the party, she disregards the reputational damage to the party for apparent publicity and self-gain,” said Beaumont.
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