Cape Town - Ousted former community safety MEC Lennit Max is set to make a comeback in the Western Cape legislature after being banished by the DA to the back benches of the National Assembly almost four years ago.
Max, who was relieved of his MEC position in 2010, initially did not make it on to the DA’s candidate lists released in January for deployment to the provincial legislature.
He did, however, end up on the list of hopefuls vying for a DA seat in the national Parliament, coming in at number 23 on the list for national deployment.
Max and four other Western Cape DA members successfully exercised their right to lodge an appeal with the DA’s federal executive about their position on the party’s candidate list.
Another change to the DA’s list is the omission of Benedicta van Minnen who made the DA’s provincial top 10 list, coming in at the ninth slot on the DA’s first list. Her name was subsequently removed from the list submitted to the Independent Electoral Commission.
And since objecting, Max, a current DA MP, made it on to the provincial legislature list, coming in at number 18, six positions ahead of current Community Safety MEC Dan Plato. Unlike Max, Plato did not lodge an appeal.
The DA’s federal executive chairman, James Selfe, confirmed on Tuesday that Max’s appeal was successful.
Selfe said a total of 56 appeals were received countrywide from DA members, of which 13 were successful.
“Sixteen of those appeals were lodged from Western Cape candidates, of which five were successful,” he said.
When approached for comment, Max confirmed he had lodged a successful bid, adding that it was disappointing that as a loyal member of the party he had had to appeal in order to be considered for an electable position in the province.
“It was not pleasant and admittedly regrettable that I was basically forced to go into an appeal process,” he added.
Cape Argus