STATEMENT BY BRETT HERRON, GOOD SECRETARY-GENERAL AND MEMBER OF THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL PARLIAMENT
14 April 2021
The timing of the “discovery” by a journalist that Western Cape MEC, Bonginkosi Madikizela, has lied about his qualifications for 12 years comes on the heels of him being found to have lied to the Western Cape Provincial Parliament.
It has been a full two weeks since Premier Alan Winde has had to act on the Public Protector’s report declaring MEC Madikizela lied to the Provincial Parliament. Premier Winde is enjoined by the Constitution to give force and effect to the remedial actions as ordered by the Public Protector.
In light of the Public Protector’s report, and these fresh allegations that Mr Madikizela misrepresented his qualifications for over a decade, Premier Winde must act to remove this serial liar from office if indeed he leads with integrity.
It is not lost on us that these allegations surface on the eve of the DA’s selection of its mayoral candidate for Cape Town. It is by no means a coincidence.
Madikizela is effectively being removed from the mayoral candidate race so the DA can install its preferred candidate, Geordin Hill-Lewis. The incumbent mayor Dan Plato, who would like to be Mayor again, is viewed as merely making up numbers.
By taking Madikizela out of the race, now, the DA avoids having to explain elevating another white member above a Black contestant – not any Black contestant, but someone who happens to lead the DA in the province and who cut his teeth in local government. Hill-Lewis has no experience in local government.
In any event, Premier Winde, who claims to lead a cabinet of integrity, must get rid of Madikizela without further delay.
At the very least the people of the province deserve to know that the people who lead them are of good character.
The fact is that Mr Madikizela lied in parliament to cover up the fact that despite serving as Housing MEC for 10 years, he failed to deliver a single social housing opportunity in the Cape Town inner-city.
It is no secret that Madikizela wanted to be the Premier of the Western Cape in 2019 but stood aside for Alan Winde. It is believed that he did so with a view to contesting the mayoral position in this year’s local government election.
Madikizela was appointed to the Western Cape cabinet three time: in 2009, 2014, and in 2019. The DA owes South Africa a real explanation for falsely claiming he had a B.Com degree when he was appointed to the Provincial Cabinet for the first time in 2009 and how he was reappointed twice thereafter.
Were qualifications not vetted all three times despite the DA preaching that all its office bearers are “fit for purpose”.
The DA’s story that members of its cabinet were not vetted – “at that stage” – sounds awfully like the excuse given for the appointment of Gupta stooges to the boards of state-owned companies. It smacks of opportunism and a lack of integrity.
These latest allegations raise serious questions about how leaders are selected in the DA. These include but are not limited to the following:
- Did the DA not vet its candidates for Premier “at that stage” either?
- Did Winde, who made a big noise about lifestyle audits for members of his “cabinet of integrity” not bother to vet the qualifications of his MECs?
- Did the DA not vet the qualifications of its provincial leader?
With each passing day, the DA, where it governs, looks more and more like the ANC.
Ends…