Cape Town - Newly-elected Knysna mayor Mark Willemse has until the end of today to resign or face “strong action” from DA Western Cape leader Bonginkosi Madikizela.
This is despite the outpouring of support from Knysna residents, including the area’s ratepayers' association, who threatened to punish the DA at the polls should it remove Willemse.
He was elected last week after the ANC tabled a motion of no confidence which saw then mayor Eleanore Bouw-Spies ousted from her position. Willemse this week resigned as Eden district council speaker.
He vowed not to resign as mayor despite calls within his party to step down. The DA wrote to him asking him to step down and expressed its concern with how he was elected.
Madikizela said he would meet today “with that gentleman (Willemse), together with the rest of the caucus”.
“We are a party of due process. I will be putting it to him to resign, failing which strong action will follow from the party’s side.
"The moment you allow that kind of behaviour to fester in the party then you won’t be able to instil discipline, because, just now, tomorrow another councillor from a particular area will collude with the opposition and then be elected as a mayor, that we can’t allow,” said Madikizela.
This statement was in stark contrast to when Madikizela endorsed a decision by the DA in the City of Cape Town to vote with the ANC in removing mayor Patricia de Lille.
The party was left with egg on the face when the ANC said it would not allow the DA to use its motion to settle internal squabbles.
“We are very clear as the party that we can’t have a mayor who was elected in the manner in which Mark was elected,” he said.
“Tomorrow (today) is his last opportunity.
"If he does not want to resign, strong action will follow against him.”
Asked what kind of action he would take, Madikizela said: “The first thing I am going to ask him to do is to resign. I do not want to get to the second action before I actually deal with the first one, because if I go there already prepared for the second action, it will appear as if I am not engaging him in good faith.
“I want to give him an opportunity to resign. I know what I am going to do if he doesn’t resign, but I prefer not to talk about it at this stage. I am engaging with him in good faith as his leader.”
Asked whether Madikizela had permission from the DA's federal executive council to ask Willemse to resign, its chairperson James Selfe said Madikizela “can go wherever he likes in his province, and is a member of every caucus in terms of the provincial constitution”.
“He does not require the permission of the federal executive to do so,” said Selfe.
He said the federal executive council had resolved last Friday “to require Mr Willemse to resign as mayor on the grounds that his candidature had not been approved in terms of the candidate selection regulations”.
Willemse told the Cape Times yesterday that he had “not received any notification” about Madikizela’s visit or that he would ask him to resign.
“I will welcome the DA leader to visit my office. I will listen to what he has to say. For now I am taking legal advice,” he said.