Cape Town - The fallout from the DA’s termination of former Western Cape legislature speaker Masizole Mnqasela’s membership has had an adverse effect on the seven members of the office of the speaker, who will be unemployed as of December 31.
On Monday (November 28) the DA wrote to secretary of the legislature, advocate Romeo Adams saying that Mnqasela’s membership of the party had “ceased”, in effect relieving Mnqasela of his role as an MPL.
One of the consequences of the legislature’s decision to cut ties with Mnqasela now that his party has dropped him, is that the seven staffers will also have to follow their boss out the door.
This emerged in a letter Mnqasela’s attorney Frank Raymond sent to the DA demanding his immediate reinstatement.
In the letter he said Adams had given the staff members 30 days’ notice of termination on Monday. According to the letter the staff had been traumatised by the events.
The seven were hired personally by Mnqasela to serve in his office and are considered political appointees and not public servants like the other legislature staffers.
They include head of office Madoda Mahlutshana, executive assistant Cormac Fortuin, senior parliamentary advisor Jannie Uys, executive personal assistant Theresa Ackermann, communications officer Sisonke Mlamla and the recently hired Wanda Zintle Klaas.
According to the letter, after Adams met the seven staffers to tell them their fate, deputy speaker Beverley Schäfer (DA) summoned Mahlutshana to her office and told him that the Executive Council (Exco) meeting that had been scheduled for that day had been cancelled.
She also told Mahlutshana that as Mnqasela was no longer a member of the provincial legislature or speaker, he should hand over all keys.
Schäfer said that official documents addressed to the speaker must be redirected to Adams, and that all notices of meetings and invitations addressed to the speaker’s office must be referred to her.
Confirming the events mentioned in Raymond’s letter, legislature spokesperson James Retief said: “The secretary to the legislature met with the staff in the office of the speaker to inform them of the status of Mr Mnqasela as speaker of the legislature, and the way forward in respect of their employment contracts.”
He also confirmed that Schäfer met Mahlutshana “to ensure access to facilities and continuity of operations in the office of the speaker”.
Meanwhile, the provincial ANC has followed through with its demand from Thursday last week that the legislature declare the post of speaker vacant and an election be held immediately to fill the position.
Leader of the opposition Cameron Dugmore submitted a motion to the legislature on Friday in which he demanded that the election of a new speaker be held this week.
The motion will be considered today.
On Friday the legislature passed a motion from the DA which stated that for as long as the position of speaker remained vacant, the legislature’s secretary should perform “functions pertaining to the receipt and communication of statutory and relevant information and documentation”.