Mbombela - The suspended Mpumalanga secretary of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Alfred Skhosana, said on Monday he was ready to face the organisation's disciplinary hearing.
“As a disciplined member of the EFF, I'll patiently wait for the internal processes to unfold,” said Skhosana
The EFF's national leadership suspended Skhosana last week for defying its instruction to pay the 15 percent levy from his salary to the party.
All EFF's members of legislatures across the country are required to pay 15 percent of their monthly salaries to the party, while newly-elected councillors are bound to pay 50 percent of their monthly salaries for three months.
Skhosana told the African News Agency (ANA) he would face the hearing on September 12, but did not reveal the reason for his suspension. “I am on hold. I have been suspended. I am not going to say whether it [suspension] is right or wrong. These are internal matters,” he said.
EFF's acting national spokesperson Fana Mokoena confirmed to ANA on Monday that Skhosana was suspended for not paying a 15 percent levy from his salary to the party, but did not say how much money he owed. He said Skhosana has already paid half of the undisclosed amount of money he owed to the party in unpaid levies. “I'm not sure of the total amount of money he owed because they [levies] differ according to provinces,” said Mokoena.
“He has promised to pay the balance next week. We use the money for the survival of the party because we do not have any funding. We have taken a resolution to discipline members who do not pay the levies.”
The EFF would decide on whether or not to haul Skhosana before a disciplinary hearing even if he paid the balance of the money he owed before the date of the hearing, said Mokoena.
Skhosana joined the EFF in 2012 from the ANC Youth League where he was serving the movement in its Nkangala regional task team in Mpumalanga. He was sworn in as the EFF's member of the provincial legislature in June 2015, replacing Ayanda Tshabalala who broke ranks with the party and joined the ANC.
Despite his suspension, Skhosana spoke fondly of the EFF and described it as the “only party in South Africa with policies that speak directly to the poor”. He said he has never regretted his decision to cut ties with the ruling party and to join the EFF.
African News Agency