DURBAN - THE future of ActionSA councillor Dr Makhosi Khoza hangs in the balance as the public spat between her and the party’s national leadership rages on.
While Khoza told The Mercury yesterday that it was the party’s prerogative to decide her future, the party’s leader, Herman Mashaba, was non-committal about what the future holds for Khoza.
However, he made no secret of the fact that there was a trust deficit between ActionSA and Khoza. They have been at loggerheads and have varying explanations about the source of the feud.
Khoza views her election as the chairperson of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (Mpac) chairperson in the eThekwini Municipality, with the help from the ANC as the source of her problems within the party.
But Mashaba said the dispute was over Khoza’s decision to step down as the party leader in KwaZulu-Natal and then trying to claim back the position. When that failed, Khoza accused the party of ousting her.
He said the party was unhappy with Khoza taking on the Mpac position without informing the leadership. They decided not to interfere and let her stay in the position.
The tensions between Khoza and the party leadership has turned into a media spectacle with allegations being laid bare in public.
Khoza told the SABC that she has suffered a hail of insults by some of the party’s national leaders who accused her of working with the ANC to destabilise the party.
In an interview yesterday, Khoza said it was up to the party to decide whether to take disciplinary action against her, saying she would not concern herself with internal party politics as she has an important job to do.
“The party leaders said that I betrayed the party and I did not consult with them before taking the position. I was taken aback by the statement as I do not see it that way. I did not betray the party.”
She said her appointment was not a favour as she was the most qualified person for the position.
“When the ANC puts unqualified people in positions, we criticise them, when they do the wrong things, we criticise them. This time around they did the right thing and they appointed someone who is suitably qualified for the position,” she said.
Khoza said people should learn to acknowledge and respect black excellence, saying that it seems her party would have been more comfortable if the DA candidate she contested for the position had won.
Khoza said in one of the radio interviews she was told that the party no longer trusted her and the letter resigning her position preceded her appointment as Mpac chairperson.
Mashaba implied that the party felt betrayed and it was impossible for anyone to believe that Khoza would have been elected from the floor as a chairperson of Mpac.
“There must have been negotiations beforehand and they should have had the decency to inform us,” he said.
Mashaba said the issue was that Khoza had written to the national leadership informing them that she would step down as provincial leader because she needed to earn extra income as at the time she was an ordinary councillor.
“After she was elected as the chair of Mpac, she changed her mind on account that she would be earning enough money. The party leadership had resolved that she should rather continue as an ordinary councillor, I am now surprised that she claims she was kicked out,” he said. He said accepting the appointment as chairperson of Mpac was very wrong, saying Khoza had called for one of the party’s councillors to be disciplined after that councillor had accepted a position without the party’s blessing and now she has done exactly the same thing.
THE MERCURY