The Western Cape High Court has dismissed Western Cape legislature speaker Masizole Mnqasela’s urgent application to have his application for reinstatement heard.
Mnqasela appeared in court on Thursday in an urgent bid to be reinstated back to his position.
“I need to regain my membership as a DA member, I need to regain my seat in Parliament, I need to regain my seat as the speaker of parliament,” said Mnqasela.
The former speaker of the Western Cape Provincial Legislature had his Democratic Alliance membership terminated after the party alleged, he made disparaging remarks about it during a media briefing in November, following the news of a motion of no confidence tabled against him by the party.
Following allegations of fraud and corruption in May, the party said he was charged with misconduct and had been suspended from taking part in DA activity.
He was voted out this week and relaced by Mobility Daylin Mitchell, who just sealed a deal to reopen a hotly disputed taxi route between Paarl and Bellville.
Mnqasela’s membership in the DA ceased at the end of November, following the briefing. Due to the cessation of Mnqasela’s membership, his position as a member of the provincial legislature and speaker also ended.
Mnqasela responded to the allegations and said they were “malicious” and a “political witch hunt”. He added that the decision to submit a motion of no confidence was “strange”.
“I have been sitting in the disciplinary hearing by the Federal Legal Commission [FLC], and when I was told while I was in the hearing that the motion that seeks to remove the speaker. For me, this is quite strange; parliament itself has not dealt with any complaint,” he said.
“I have not been found guilty of anything, and I refuse to sit back and allow a witch hunt against me to continue.”
Source: News24, The Citizen, Daily Maverick, image from Twitter: @AthiMtongana
