Maimane says he will meet the five ex-DA councillors in court

The leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), Mmusi Maimane, said he will see the five ex-DA councillors targeting him for alleged defamation in court.

The five former DA members announced they had instructed an attorney to institute legal action against Maimane.

The members want Maimane to withdraw comments made suggesting their resignations were because they were implicated in the Bowmans report.

“I will see them in court, those people. My lawyers will deal with those people, I don’t have time for … so we will deal with that issue,” Maimane said.

However, the DA issued an updated version of Maimane’s newsletter titled Bokamoso with the following disclaimer: “Friday’s Bokamoso contained a factual inaccuracy regarding the role of the five former DA councillors in Cape Town, an error for which we apologise. Please find below the corrected version.”

Friday’s version read that the five former councillors of the DA had not thought the party was racist in the previous months until “a credible forensic investigation by credible legal firm has allegedly implicated them in tender irregularities”.

At a press briefing hosted by the five former members on Sunday, Shaun August, Suzette Little, Siya Mamkeli, Thulani Stemele, and Greg Bernado made the announcement to take on the DA leader.

Little dismissed allegations that their exit was a result of the Bowmans report.

“Now let me just state that this report has been coming on since last year when the council decided that there had to be an investigation. At no time was any one of the five mentioned, at no time was any of the five interviewed. At no time were we accused of any corruption or any participation.”

Maimane claimed the five resigned after being implicated in corruption.

(Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu)

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