DA leader institutes ’CV audits’ admit call for Xanthea Limberg to be fired

Mayor Dan Plato and Mayco member Xanthea Limberg. File picture: African News Agency (ANA)

Mayor Dan Plato and Mayco member Xanthea Limberg. File picture: African News Agency (ANA)

Published May 7, 2021

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Cape Town – The Western Cape ANC is of the opinion the ’’DA is unravelling’’ and ’’will not be surprised if more allegations of other fake qualifications are leaked’’.

With City of Cape Town Mayco member Xanthea Limberg becoming the latest high-profile DA figure to have their qualifications questioned, party leader John Steenhuisen has decided to act.

The DA will carry out a “full audit” on the CVs of its public representatives, Daily Maverick reported, with individuals required to provide certified copies of the degrees or diplomas listed.

“I have requested the Chief Executive Officer to do a full audit on the CVs of the elected MP and MPL candidates from the 2019 election, as well as the CVs submitted by prospective candidates for this year’s local government elections,” Steenhuisen said.

“In instances where there is a disconnect, the individual concerned will be referred to the federal legal commission for investigation.’’

The Western Cape ANC, which has called for Limberg to be fired, said in a statement: ’’We are not surprised at reports that another DA member, this time the Mayco Member for Water and Waste in the City of Cape Town, Xanthea Limberg, has been accused of not being honest about her academic qualifications.

’’According to reports, Councillor Limberg claimed in her CV she has a degree in Politics and Public Policy from the University of Cape Town, as well as a BA degree in Policy Studies from the University of South Africa.

’’However, these claims, which were made in a CV she submitted to the DA’s Provincial Executive Committee in January as part of her bid to be nominated as an executive member, are bogus. A newspaper has determined that she has certificates from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

“We demand that Mayor Dan Plato fire her immediately from Mayco. She has reportedly fibbed about her qualifications, and also wanted to further her career by claiming non-existent academic qualifications.

’’Off course, we see signs of internecine DA strife and of scores being settled. We believe her CV was leaked to the media. Still, she must go. She lied under oath because a CV is like an affidavit. We demand that Dan Plato stop procrastinating and fire her.”

Limberg told the Cape Argus her full CV, a relevant extract of which was attached and available on the DA Apply CV platform formally submitted to the DA in 2019, unequivocally sets out that she was in the process of completing her respective tertiary qualifications.

“I maintain that I have made no misrepresentations and must place it on record that I was requested, telephonically, to submit a high-level summary of experience to accompany a nomination to serve as a co-opted member of the DA provincial executive committee,” she said.

While Steenhuisen claimed that all the cases brought to light thus far have followed the same route, Good party secretary-general Brett Herron yesterday took the DA to task for the different manner in which it has addressed the storm around the qualifications of former DA Western Cape leader and Transport and Public Works MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela, DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone and Saldanha mayor Marius Koen.

’’Madikizela was suspended and investigated (and subsequently resigned); Koen (who claims he has an MBA without showing a copy of the certificate in an over four-minute video in his defence) was investigated but not suspended; and Mazzone was neither investigated nor suspended – she was just defended.

’’Will they just blindly defend Xanthea? The qualification issue matters because these people hold public office. All of them are in government or in an executive position, or a position that entitles them to an extra salary,’’ Herron told IOL.

IOL

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