Luyolo Mkentane
A DISGRUNTLED DA ward councillor has claimed party officials – which he said belonged to the Koh-I-Noor Lodge of Freemasons – rigged the candidate selection process for the municipal elections.
Alexander Willem Frederik Middelberg, Tshwane’s ward 91 councillor and shadow finance mayoral committee member, said this process – which gave preference to the members’ wives, girlfriends and friends – was “invalid”.
In an internal appeal to DA federal executive chairperson James Selfe and federal legal commission (FLC) chairperson Glynnis Breytenbach, Middelberg complains about his “irregular placement” on the proportional representation (PR) list.
“I have been placed in an electable position of the PR list at position 36. I appealed this placement because it does not fairly represent my scores in comparison to those (candidates) placed above me on the list.
“I know my scores actually achieved – with any legitimately made adjustments – to see me placed at the top of the list, following only the (Tshwane) mayoral candidate (Solly Msimanga).”
The irregular placement, he said, was the result of “numerous travesties that adversely affect me and any number of deserving aspirant candidates who would have qualified for appointment as ward councillors, or their placement on the list in better positions than they occupy now”.
Proper procedures were also not followed in the appointment of the selection panel, which Middelberg claimed was infiltrated by DA officials who are members of the Koh-I-Noor Lodge of Freemasons.
This, Middelberg added, had outed Msimanga, among other party officials, as one of the secret society’s members. Msimanga hit back, saying he was not a member of any secret society or clique.
“Look, there are internal processes and I have referred this matter to the FLC to investigate,” he said, dismissing the allegations as spurious.
In the appeal, Middelberg wrote: “For the record, every known member of the Koh-I-Noor Lodge, in fact, every known freemason who was an aspirant candidate, and their wives or girlfriends who were aspirant candidates, have been placed in the top 20 of the proportional representation list or were given a safe ward.
“I submit that they have been placed there at the expense of experienced and hard-working incumbents and meritorious aspirant candidates from outside, who would have made the list in electable positions, or who would have been allocated the wards but for the competitive advantage of being a member of the Koh-I-Noor Lodge.”
Asked for comment yesterday, Middelberg, who wants the party to investigate the “possible undue influence” of the freemasons on his party, said he stood by everything he said in the appeal.
He has not received a response from the DA, he said, adding he was now consulting his legal representatives to have the whole candidate selection process redone.
Selfe said the matter had been referred to the FLC.
Breytenbach said: “I make nothing of his (Middelberg’s) allegations. A panel has been constituted to deal with all the appeals, and I’m not sure if his appeal has been deliberated on because as the FLC chair, I would not sit on the panel.”
Breytenbach said she would provide further information once the matter had been dealt with by the panel.