Cape Town – DA Knysna mayor Mark Willemse’s wife
Dalene has resigned from
the DA alleging that the party had
threatened to start a smear campaign
against Willemse if he refused to
canvass for the upcoming by-election
on Wednesday.
“Mark suffered a heart attack on
June 26, about four days after you
warned him that unless he followed
DA instructions, the DA would
commence with a smear campaign
against him, even if that campaign involved lies.
'Mark has to have a
second stent inserted in his heart
in October and he should limit his
exposure to stress at least until that
procedure is deemed a success by his
cardiologist,” she said in a letter to
the DA.
She shared the letter on her social media.
She said the DA had requested Willemse to participate in Ward 5 by-elections public meetings and scheduled candidate debate this coming week.
Dalene said yesterday the letter was not her resignation letter but her feelings towards the party using her husband’s popularity in the by-election campaign.
She considered this disingenuous, given that the DA leadership had as recently as May stated in the media that Willemse was an ANC mayor and that they do not recognise him as a DA member.
“I set out various reasons, including the manner in which Mark and I have been treated following the May 2019 national and provincial elections, during which we put in all our efforts to promote the DA campaign.
"I also expressed my concern about the poor leadership of the DA Knysna constituency, under the chairmanship of Rowan Spies. I am stepping out of party politics, which I have found to be a very toxic environment, to focus on my family and business,” said Dalene.
She said while Willemse remained a DA member, she had lost confidence in the party.
Willemse has defied the DA leadership for more than a year by refusing to step down after he was voted as mayor by opposition parties following the axing of former mayor Eleanore Bouw-Spies through a motion of no confidence.
Willemse said: “I support my wife and I can understand her frustration and her concerns for myself and our family.
“This entire situation has not been easy but I still remain committed fulfilling in my role as mayor and requested that I may help canvass for the by-elections in another less strenuous capacity.”
Willemse said he was unsure what the future held for him and what the DA Federal Executive’s position regarding him may be after the by-election.
DA Knysna constituency representative Dion George said: “Mrs Willemse is entitled to her views. Mark Willemse can, however, speak for himself. She is not his proxy for engagement with DA leadership.”
Asked whether the party had requested his involvement in the run up to the by-elections considering his condition, George did not respond.
Spies said: “I don’t know what other sentiments Mrs Willemse expressed on social media, but Mr Willemse did endorse the DA candidate for Ward 5, and her disagreement with that endorsement should be a matter between her and her husband.
'(Her) opinion of the DA constituency leadership, of which she was an executive member, is also a matter of her opinion, so I don’t see the need to challenge her ‘latest’ opinion.”