Durban - The DA has hit back at its Westville councillor Bruce Sutcliffe, saying his poor performance - and not, as he alleged, grudges and bias of senior party members towards him - was the reason he was not chosen to stand for re-election.
Sutcliffe made specific allegations of bias against selection panel members, chief whip John Steenhuisen, member of parliament Dianne Kohler-Barnard and Ashraf Gaibie in an application he launched in the Electoral Court.
He was seeking an order overturning the party’s decision to nominate Melanie Fraser-Brauteseth and not him as the candidate for Ward 18, where he has been councillor since 2014.
The Mercury understands that after the party filed its opposing papers, Sutcliffe withdrew the application.
In his affidavit, the party’s executive federal chairman, James Selfe, said not only were the allegations against the individual party members nonsense, but the application was defective for several other reasons, including the fact that Sutcliffe was asking the court to “force him back into a position as a representative of the DA in spite of the fact that the DA has quite clearly chosen someone else”.
Selfe said the “dispute” was not one which could be resolved by the court because the party was entitled to select candidates of its choosing.
“Apart from that, the relief he seeks is no longer possible because the party cannot alter its party lists which have been lodged and certified with the IEC.”
Selfe said Sutcliffe was also “shooting at the wrong target” because the appointment decision had been ultimately taken by the provincial executive committee and not the selection panel.
He said potential candidates were assessed in terms of a performance management system and Sutcliffe was “aware of his score and that it was lower than many other candidates”.
“The panel, however, motivated that his name be promoted up the party’s PR list, based on his particular skills.
“In other words he was promoted over others who achieved better scores by the very same panel which, he claims, was biased against him.”
Sutcliffe, in his affidavit, claimed Steenhuisen had displayed “general animosity and dislike” for him for a period of time, but Selfe said this was “vague and nonsense”.
Regarding Kohler-Barnard, while Sutcliffe said he had blown the whistle on her controversial sharing of a Facebook post “wishing for the return of PW Botha”, Selfe said she did not attribute her fate to him “and accepted that she had made an error of judgment and had long since apologised for it”.
Likewise, Gabie denied “not being well-disposed” towards Sutcliffe.
The Mercury