Western Cape - George mayor Charles Standers dramatically quit the DA on Wednesday, citing racism, corruption, interference by the party's regional structures and “untested” disciplinary charges against him.
On Tuesday, he sent a letter to DA Western Cape chairperson Anton Bredell informing him of his decision “with deep regret”.
“Racist practices within the DA George caucus are wrong, create disunity and affect service delivery to our people,” Stander wrote in his letter to Bredell.
He further stated he would end his party membership at the end of his term next week, and that he would not be available to stand as a councillor despite being second on the DA’s proportional list for the George municipality.
The ANC’s provincial secretary, Faiez Jacobs, said Standers' claims of corruption came as no surprise.
“Standers is correct about the DA’s interference in the affairs of the municipalities it runs to serve party interests. The DA has always used disingenuous recruitment tools for blacks and coloureds into the party ranks, as a means to serve the DA’s desired ends (of) misusing municipality resources,” said Jacobs.
He said should the ANC take over the municipality after the elections, its caucus would call for an investigation into the DA administration.
Standers, whose wife earlier this year accused him of assault, came into politics as a member of the Independent Democrats. He quit that party and joined the DA in 2010. His wife later withdrew the assault complaint against him.
Following his resignation letter to Bredell, sources in George said he was expected to endorse the ANC at a press conference on Thursday. But the DA’s Eastern Region manager, Jaco Londt, said: “If he does endorse the ANC we will revoke his membership immediately.”
This would mean Standers relinquishing his mayoral chain earlier than he had told the party.
Londt did not respond to Standers’ accusations of racism and corruption.
In a statement, Standers said: “I have served the DA loyally over many years and have given my best to ensure that we advance our people through clean governance and effective service delivery.”
But he added that he had been “surprised and disappointed” over a decision by the DA caucus to suspend him from attending meetings.
His suspension followed a media interview with a George community newspaper in which he distanced himself from the termination of some employee contracts at the municipality, the withdrawal of charges against the DA’s Eden councillor, Tertius Simmers, for electricity theft, and the award of a tender which he had questioned.
In a statement, he said the DA caucus had no mandate to prevent him from attending its meetings, saying that at best it could only make recommendations to the party's federal council headed by James Selfe.
“In view of this very important fact, I have no choice other than to ignore the letter from the DA’s caucus until I have been informed by the DA’s federal executive committee and/or legal commission on this matter,” said Stander.
Selfe had not returned calls and messages seeking his comment on the matter.
Stander said accusations against him, sent to the DA’s federal executives on June 22, were “made up” and he had not received any correspondence from the party's federal leadership.
“My opinion is that party management in Cape Town correctly ignored this transparent effort to play small party politics. The national DA leadership currently spend their time on more important matters,” said Standers.
Londt said the party had noted Standers' resignation, which was “very suspicious”.
“The timing is obviously suspicious, given the ongoing disciplinary proceedings against him. These proceedings against Standers will continue, as far as I know.
“It is very telling that he plans to end his relationship with the DA only after his term ends. It's clear he wants to have his cake and eat it,” said Londt.
He said the DA’s mayoral candidate for George, Melvin Naik, would take the municipality to “new heights”.